


blue and bronze

by recommend_me_fics



Series: colors [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Alternate Hogwarts House Sorting, Child Abuse, Gen, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, POC Hermione Granger, Pureblood Culture (Harry Potter), Ravenclaw Harry Potter, Ron Weasley Bashing, Smart Harry Potter, Sporadic Updates, aunt petunia’s not perfect, but it’s not a huge part of the story, but she’s better, drunk uncle vernon, harry has a cat, i mean he’s not evil he’s just kinda an asshole, ofc he’s smart, read my warnings folks, snape can fight me in the zippys parking lot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:21:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 37,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24691438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/recommend_me_fics/pseuds/recommend_me_fics
Summary: harry potter isn’t an idiot, despite what his relatives may believe. he’s just learned to keep his head down over the years. so when the letter from the magic school appears, he’s not quite sure how to handle it.(probably with books)
Relationships: Harry Potter & Blaise Zabini, Hermione Granger & Harry Potter, Morag MacDougal & Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom & Harry Potter, Theodore Nott & Harry Potter, maybe later on - Relationship, they’re children jesus christ
Series: colors [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1785136
Comments: 81
Kudos: 318





	1. one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for brief physical child abuse, everything else is pretty much the same as the rest of the abuse harry received in canon

When Harry came home with higher marks than Dudley, Vernon had screamed at him until his face turned red, took his work folder, and locked him in the cupboard with no dinner. He ranted about how Harry must have cheated on Dudley, never mind the fact that Dudley barely got C+ and B- grades. So, into the cupboard he went. 

Harry loved school and the library. He got away from Petunia and her chores, and Dudley only had so much time to play Harry Hunting at school, what with actual schoolwork and doing things he liked with his friends. The public library was a good place to go after school when Petunia had no more cooking and weeding. Dudley would never show up there. The librarian, Mrs. Yoakum, was a stout black haired lady who had a rather loud voice for a librarian. Mrs. Yoakum had heard about the little terror who lived at Number Four Privet Drive and had watched Harry like a hawk for the first few days he camped out there. When Harry stayed quiet and attentive to his C.S. Lewis and William Golding, Mrs. Yoakum gave the boy a library card for free once she noticed he hadn’t borrowed any books out of the library. Harry had kept the library card with him everywhere, always in his pocket.

The library had other benefits, as for the first time, Harry made a friend.

Harry had been sitting in his favorite spot behind the Q-T section. It was a stormy day, and Harry liked the thunder because ‘it enhanced the mood’. His thin jumper was practically soaked from running through the sheets of rain outside, and perhaps that was what had preempted the little girl to come up to him.

”Mom says it’s not good to be wet in your clothes.” A blunt voice with an American accent said. Harry looked up through his glasses at a small, brown skinned little girl with long curly hair bursting from its ponytail.

”Here, take it. You certainly need it. Honestly, you need a towel.” A hand holding a thick wad of paper towels was thrusted at him, and Harry blinked a couple times before taking it.

”Thanks.” Harry said quietly. The girl nodded, before walking out of the bookshelves and to her mother.

And it might’ve been a fluke, except for her coming back the next day when Harry was once again soaked and this time, sporting a bruise on his cheekbone.

”Do you make it a habit of treating yourself horribly?” Harry stared up at her.

”It’s not like I asked to be punched and rained on.” He finally said after a minute of silence. The girl sighed before leaving, only to return with another wad of paper towels.

”At this rate you’ll catch a cold by Monday. And take off that jumper, it’s not doing you any good, if anything it’s making you colder.” The girl said in a rather commanding voice for someone no older than nine. Harry pulled his jumper off to the slightly damp t-shirt underneath it, dry save for the shoulders.

”Let your shirt dry for now, and don’t put your jumper back on until it’s mostly dried. Your shorts will stay on, of course, but they seem to be drying. You should take off those socks, walking in damp socks is an easy way to get fungus and have your feet stink.” The girl unloaded as she folded Harry’s jumper in a neat square, while Harry used the paper towels to try and soak up the water in hair and shorts.

”I- thanks.” Harry said, eyes wide.

”It’s not a problem.” The girl looked up from her task of drying his shoes as best she could. “I’m Akela.”

”I’m Harry.” Harry said, eloquent as always.

”Well Harry, you didn’t answer my question.” Harry looked at Akela, tilting his head slightly. Akela sighed.

”Do you make it a habit of treating yourself horribly?”

”I- no, I just wanted to come read, and my Aunt won’t drive me, so I had to walk, which isn’t that bad honestly but it was raining today, so-“

”I just needed a yes or no, geez.” Akela covered his mouth with a hand, smiling at his rambles. Harry slouched down against wall behind him, which Akela took as an invitation to join him.

From the little rucksack on her shoulders she pulled out what seemed to be some sort of sushi in plastic wrap. She carefully unfolded the snack and held it out to Harry.

”It’s called a spam musubi. You cook rice, roll it into a rounded square thing, add a slice of spam to one of the long sides, and wrap it in nori.” The word rolled off her tongue, pronouncing it ‘no-di’. “It’s a thing they do back home a lot, it’s basically just a musubi with spam.” When Harry he’s instantly grabbed the musubi, she put down her bag and pulled out one for herself. Akela took a bite, her fingers holding the plastic wrap so she didn’t touch the rice or the nori. Harry mimicked her hold and took a small bite himself, discovering that spam musubi was in fact delicious.

”Good right? I don’t understand why people think spam is gross. Frankly it’s great. We use it all the time at home.” Harry finished his musubi in less than ten bites, licking his lips and kinda wishing he had more. As if she read his mind, Akela produced yet another musubi from her bag and Harry eagerly unwrapped it.

”Where did you get the bruise?” Akela asked bluntly, true to fashion.

”Er, I’m clumsy, tripped into a door.” Harry mumbled.

”I don’t think smacking your face into a door would create a bruise that centered.” Akela pinned him with her brown-eyed gaze. 

_This kid is literally under ten, why is she like this?_

”My cousin did it.” Harry said quietly. Akela nodded.

”Thank you for telling me the truth.” Akela said gently, for the first time that afternoon. Harry stayed quiet.

”Your cousin’s an asshole.” Harry whipped his head to her.

”You’re like, nine!” Harry spluttered.

”I mean when you grow up with all your extended family, you tend to pick up some things. From my uncles, swearing.” Akela said with a grin on your face.

Harry stared at her until she giggled, and he in turn laughed with her.

The next month was likely the best to date for Harry. He finally had a friend, and although she went to a different elementary school across town, he still saw her almost daily at the library. Mrs. Yoakum mostly left them to their devices, meaning a lot more of Hawaiian, Japanese, and Filipino food.

”So you’re American right?” Harry asked one day.

”Mm, I suppose. I’m not really proud to say it. America’s kinda a shit country.” Harry gave her a look at the cuss word, but she ignored him.

 _I really should be used to it already._ Harry thought.

”I didn’t live on the mainland, I lived on Oahu with my family. Nearly everyone there has some Asian or Polynesian in them, or something like it, so a lot of their traditions got mixed with others. Like musubis are Japanese.” Akela explained. Harry tilted his head.

”Polynesian, that’s... those islands right?” He asked. Akela nodded.

”Polynesia is part of the group of islands called Oceania. It’s sorta in the Southern Hemisphere, and there’s hundreds of islands and atolls. It’s divided into three groups; Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Following so far?” Harry nodded with rapt attention.

“The Melanesian islands are at the equator, so the people there get a lot of sun.” Akela plowed on. “Melanin means black, or very dark, and so are the people. Micronesian islands are very small, which is why the group of islands is named Micronesia. Polynesia...” She tapped her lip thoughtfully. “I actually can’t remember right now, I know poly means many, so I think Polynesia means many islands, but I’m not sure... Anyways, most of the islands were colonized during Western Expansion, but a lot of the culture is still there.”

”Wow!” Harry said. “What’s it like?”

”I lived on Oahu, in Mililani. It’s honestly one of the more mainland-like parts of the island. But it’s really nice, there’s a lot of trees and stuff. Oahu has amazing hikes, I like the Pillbox hike but my mom likes the Hamama Falls trail.” Akela said happily.

So Harry learned a bit more about the Hawaiian islands. He liked watching his friend talk about Oahu, because she always looked so happy. When Harry had asked why Akela had moved to Britain, she explained that her mom got a job as a museum director. She never really liked to talk about, so Harry didn’t pry. And thus was his friendship with Akela Oliveira.

Because of all the quiet time Harry got to spend in the library reading, studying, and doing his homework, his grades went up. By a lot. And so did Vernon’s spite for the boy.

”What did you do?! Everyone knows you’re not smart enough to get those grades, who did you cheat off of?!” Vernon roared in Harry’s ear.

”N-no one!” Harry squirmed in the tight hold Vernon had in his hair. “I got them on my own!”

”Like hell you did! I bet you cheated off Dudley!” Vernon threw Harry down on the floor, his face and elbows smacking the hardwood.

”I didn’t cheat! I spend time in the library after school, it’s quieter there.” Harry tried to stop his shaking.

”I know you’re not that smart, you little freak! Maybe I should take look at your homework, see how you’ve been cheating!” Spittle from Vernon’s mouth landed on Harry’s face, and Harry wiped his face in disgust.

“No dinner! Petunia, get the key!” Vernon grabbed Harry’s arm, yanked open the small cupboard, and threw him in. Harry landed gracelessly on the floor, again, and he knew it would bruise tomorrow.

The door slammed shut, and the telltale clunking of the padlock around the little wooden slots in the door confirmed that Harry was locked in. Harry ran a trembling hand though his disheveled hair and sighed, sitting down gingerly on his bed and blanket. Uncle Vernon still had his backpack, so the homework he hadn’t finished at school would be zeroes. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn’t sign any of his papers, unless they were field trip forms just so they didn’t get looked at weird for one child going and the other staying back. 

Harry sighed and began his check on his body he did after every altercation with Vernon, Petunia, or Dudley. Dudley mostly just pinched him and slapped him every now and then, he could deal with it. Occasionally, when Aunt Petunia was really stressed, she might cuff him on the back of the head or grab his arm and dig her nails in, the French tips cutting into his skin. Uncle Vernon by far gave the worst ‘beatings’, if you could call it that. When Uncle Vernon was mad he usually yelled at him or backhanded him. The worst times were when he got shoved around and punched, like today.

Today, though, was a moderately bad day. He knew he would have to hide a couple bruises and cuts. Harry accounted the red handprint on his arm that would probably remain in the morning, and the rug burn on skinned knees from when Uncle Vernon dragged him. The purpling bruise on his thigh ached, but didn’t hinder any of his movements. Long pants, a jumper, and perhaps some band-aids from Mrs. Yoakum would do the trick. Harry couldn’t speak for his face, but he felt no outstanding injuries, so he’d just have to check in the morning.

If there were any bruises showing tomorrow, Harry knew Akela would ask. He didn’t want to worry her, so he donned the long sleeves and pants. It was a small price for a friend.

Harry took off his round-rimmed glasses and put them delicately next to his pillow, before stretching out on the small mattress and lying down, finally relaxing. Harry had gotten used to falling asleep quickly, because he knew that Petunia would always wake him early, so staying up late even just because of restlessness really wasn’t an option.

God he was tired.

* * *

time skip - one year and five months 

Harry woke to the sound of rapping knuckles on the cupboard door.

”Up, boy! You have a full list of chores today, and that’s including meals!” Aunt Petunia’s shrill voice pierced his sleep. Harry silently pushed himself up, rubbing his eyes, and pushed open the cupboard door to Aunt Petunia’s rather long legs clicking away to the kitchen. He grabbed his glasses and left the cupboard to join her.

Petunia pulled out the frying pan in the bottom kitchen cupboard and set it on the stove before setting the heat to high. Her nephew Harry shuffled into the kitchen with his black hair in its usual disarray, yawning slightly and washing his hands at the sink. Petunia sighed when she saw how scrawny he was. She may have hated her sister and her magic, but Harry was still a child. She hated him for having Lily’s green eyes, for having her graceful composure in front of her husband and child, for being just as smart as her even if Vernon condemned his marks, for him likely having magic in his blood too. 

But he was still just a child, and for that she felt guilt daily.

She still hated him, of course, but whenever she saw the small bruises on his arms and legs from Vernon’s shoving and slapping, or how damn _skinny_ he was, when her Dudders was practically obese. She felt guilt. 

It was already July, and she knew Hogwarts letters for the upcoming first years would be arriving any day now. Petunia watched the post like a hawk these days, waiting for the letter with the red seal to pop through the slot. She had decided that she would take Harry to Diagon Alley herself. She had gone before with Lily and their parents, and remembered pretty well where she needed to go. Vernon would not like him going to Hogwarts, but hopefully the argument that they wouldn’t see Harry for nine months out of the year would do the trick.

”Aunt Petunia, the bacon!” Petunia looked down at the sizzling pan below her to see the bacon in question had in fact burnt. She sighed before lifting the pan off the burner and used the tongs to throw it in the trash.

Harry stood off to the side, biting his lip and wringing his hands. Petunia sighed again, before handing him the pan and tongs.

”Start another batch will you? I’m going to go check for the post.” Harry nodded and Petunia stalked away to the door.

Harry gently placed the pan on the stove, grabbing the packet of bacon and laying the strips down in neat lines. The fat bubbled and fried while Harry put the new whole-wheat bread Aunt Petunia wanted to try in the toaster slots. (Dudley was gonna hate it.) Harry was planning on asking Aunt Petunia if he could go over to Akela’s house, or at least the library. It had been a slow summer, and hopefully Aunt Petunia wouldn’t have needed him.

Harry continued cooking breakfast, the smell of bacon and toast filled the house. (The eggs didn’t really have a smell. Harry slid the usual three eggs onto Uncle Vernon and Dudley’s plate, two for Aunt Petunia, and one for him. A slice of toast (usually the most burnt one) for him, one for Petunia, two for Vernon, and one for Dudley who hated the whole wheat bread. A strip or two of bacon for him, three for Aunt Petunia, four for Unce Vernon, and five for Dudley.

Uncle Vernon waddled into the room and was handed the paper by Aunt Petunia with a kiss on the forehead. He sat down heavily in his seat and stabbed at his bacon with his fork. 

Dudley followed not long after, still in pajamas and already whining at eight in the morning. Harry wondered if this was finally the year that Uncle Vernon would send him away. He knew Uncle Vernon had no love for him, and only kept him around for housework. But he was getting older, and increasingly more expensive, what with more fees at school and more supplies to buy, like calculators and binders.

Harry hoped he wouldn’t have to leave. It meant leaving Akela.

”Boy, get me another cup of coffee.” Uncle Vernon said with his mouth full. Harry nodded and complied to his uncle’s wishes quickly. Dudley had abandoned whining about some guy who made fun of him for not knowing the answer, when in reality Harry recognized the name of the kid and distinctly remembered Dudley making fun of _him_ for knowing the answer. When Dudley had asked (read: ordered) the kid the do his homework for him, he said no.

 _Poor kid._ Harry thought. _He’s gonna get killed._

Aunt Petunia gasped from the other side of the table. Harry looked up to see that she had gone pale, and her mouth had dropped slightly open.

”Whats wrong, Petunia? Some new magazine about dresses?” Uncle Vernon chuckled and bumped Dudley with his arm. Harry wrinkled his nose slightly at his Uncle’s behavior, Vernon always made sexist jokes about women, racist ones about minorities, and sexual jokes that _really_ shouldn’t have been said in front of eleven-year olds.

”Vernon, honey, could you come with me?” Aunt Petunia said, voice wavering slightly.

”Petunia, I’m eating, just tell me-“

”Please Vernon, we need to talk about this in private.” Uncle Vernon looked at her in slight surprise, he really hadn’t expected her to cut him off. For a moment he was silent, until he stood up and brushed his shirt off.

”Alright then.” Uncle Vernon made for the living room, but Aunt Petunia walked to their bedroom. Vernon blinked, before following her after a moment.

Harry wondered what was so important that Aunt Petunia needed to talk to Uncle Vernon in private, and away from Dudley. Perhaps it was just the bills, and they needed to cut down on spendings? Aunt Petunia hated to talk about stuff like that with a Dudley around.

”I bet they’re finally sending you away.” Dudley chomped on his bacon. “It’s been coming for months now.” Harry stayed quiet. He knew better than to talk back to Dudley, who would just twist his words. Or simply lie.

Harry finished his breakfast quickly, it was a Saturday, which meant laundry day. He had to collect all of the laundry in the house, wash them in loads according to weights, colors, and stains. It took all day, especially because many of Aunt Petunia’s clothes needed ironing.

Harry dug our all the clothes from Dudley’s hamper, the smell of which was frankly disturbing for someone who had barely started puberty. He had balanced the laundry basket on his hip and was about to bring them to the washer when a hand laid down on his shoulder.   
  


Harry jumped, spinning around to an Aunt Petunia with pursed lips, not that that was new.

”Harry, we need to talk.” Harry could feel his heart sinking. Dudley might’ve been right, Vernon had been looking at boarding school pamphlets...

”It’s about your schooling,” _mother of-_ ”And your parents.” Harry froze. Aunt Petunia sighed.

”Just follow me.”

Petunia led him to the bathroom a few rooms away, where Dudley wouldn’t hear them. Petunia closed the door, making sure that it was shut.

”Harry, we’ve always told you that your parents died in a car crash. We- I lied. They were murdered.”

Well shit, that wasn’t what he’d been expecting.

”Your mother... she was a witch.” Petunia finally said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the first time i’ve written a harry potter fic, and i hope it’s okay. this is honestly the fastest i’ve ever gotten out a chapter, only four days. so i think i’ll be updating this a bit more often than my other stuff, because i have a LOT of motivation for this one. 
> 
> thanks for giving it a try y’all, stay safe out there.


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do i honestly need to say i’m not fucking j.k. rowling

Harry blinked.

When Harry didn’t say anything, Petunia rushed to validate herself. 

”I know, it sounds ludicrous, but it’s true. Here,” Petunia pulled out an old and slightly yellowing letter from behind her. “This was your mother’s acceptance letter to Hogwarts, the British wizarding school.”

Harry blinked again.

”They send the letters out to all wizards and witches when they’re eleven, or eligible for their first year, even the ones with Muggle parents.” Petunia produced another letter, this one markedly newer. With shaking hands she cut it open with a letter opener.

Harry stayed silent. 

”Harry, I know this is a shock, but please, it’s all true.” Aunt Petunia said worryingly. Petunia was so nervous about this whole thing, Harry going to Hogwarts, and having to explain to him everything. 

”Is that how I made Ms. Cahill’s hair turn blue?” Harry finally said. 

Now Petunia blinked.

”I suppose so.” Petunia sighed. “I’m sorry for lying to you, but- it, it’s not _right_ , what this is, this _magic_ , it’s freakish-“

”Your sister was a freak too.” Harry said softly. Petunia had no answer.

”I spoke to Vernon, and we have agreed that you going to Hogwarts would be the best option. Most likely someone at that school would come asking questions when you did not appear there come September, so I will take you to get your school things.” Petunia said.

”I can’t explain the wizarding world very well to you, it’s been years since I had any contact with them, besides you, and I didn’t know much to begin with. I assume they have books for this sort of thing. We will withdraw money from your account at their bank and buy your school supplies. You will leave them in you cupboard until September, when the train for the school leaves. I will drive you. You will not come back for Christmas, and you will not practic magic at home. I know that you’re not allowed to do magic out of school. You will be allowed to keep your books, and you may study that way, but don’t you dare bring them outside the cupboard.”

”Do you have any questions?” Petunia said after Harry’s continuing silence.

”When will we leave for my supplies?” Harry looked up.

”Today. Term starts in a couple of months, and everything will be new now.”

”What about the chores?”

”I think Dudley can last a couple days without a few shirts.” Harry gave Petunia a look of thankfulness, to which Petunia sniffed.

”Go now, grab your coat and put on your good trainers. There’s a lot of walking to do today. I will take your letter, the bank needs proof of ID.” Petunia ordered. Harry practically ran out of the bathroom to get his things. Petunia sat down heavily on the toilet cover and sighed. She was returning to Diagon Alley after over fifteen years, with her nephew no less.

Vernon had nearly exploded at the sight of the Hogwarts letter, he knew what it meant. Petunia had to convince him that getting Harry out of Little Whinging was for the best. She’d assured him she’d cover all school related dealings, and that Harry wouldn’t perform any magic in the house. It’d take a little while, but she finally got him to concede.

Now, she just had to get Harry to Hogwarts, and then after seven years, she could forget about magic.

Harry really didn’t know what to think. Although he stayed quiet in the bathroom, he had a number of questions. His mother was a _witch,_ and while he doubted it was all warts, broomsticks, and eating children, he still had no idea what to expect. He knew Aunt Petunia would likely be vague about the death of his mother. A little snooping in the attic allowed him to find out his mother’s name was Lily, and she had light colored hair based on the shade in the black and white photograph. His father’s name was James, and so was Harry’s middle name. They shared the same mop of hair, but while James’ was wild and curly, Harry’s was shorter (not to say his hair was short) and more wavy than curly. He’d seen one photo, from the wedding invitation they had sent to the Dursley’s. Harry knew for a fact they didn’t go, there was a second letter, his mother pleading with Aunt Petunia to come.

What Harry didn’t know was why Aunt Petunia was _helping_ him. Aunt Petunia never showed any affection for him, why would she ask Uncle Vernon to let Harry go?

Whatever the case, Harry was intrigued to say the least by the prospect of this magic school. _Hogwarts_ , an odd name, but they were wizards, maybe it wasn’t for them. He was eager to get his hands on all the books he could. Diagon Alley, it had to have a bookstore right?

Harry walked out to Uncle Vernon sitting steaming on the armchair in the living room, face red and eyes narrowed viciously. As Harry entered his line of sight, Uncle Vernon’s eyes widened in anger and he shot up.

”You little freak!” He spat. “We tried, we _tried_ to beat it out of you, out of the goodness of our hearts, but you’re just as much of a freak as your parents! If I catch you doing, doing _you know what_ in this house, you’ll never get to back! You’ll regret eve-“

” _Vernon.”_ Uncle Vernon stopped ranting and his gaze slowly went to Petunia. Petunia rarely raised her voice or talked back to her husband, but when she did, it terrified him.

”Dudley is just upstairs. I don’t think he needs to worry about some yelling down here, does he?” Aunt Petunia raised an eyebrow, implying their agreement that Dudley would not find out about magic. Vernon swallowed.

”... yes, dear. When will you and- the _boy_ be back?” Uncle Vernon asked shakily.

”We will be home to make dinner. You can wait an hour or two.” Petunia stiffly. She turn on her heel and walked out the door, Harry scurrying behind her.

Harry sat silently in the car as Aunt Petunia drove rigidly, back straight and chin slightly raised, as if she were staring something down. The car was quiet, no radio, no outside noises, certainly no conversations.

Harry recognized some of the signs and landmarks they passed on the ride, realizing they had made it into London. The idea that wizards and magic were in London thrilled Harry. They parked on a street lined with tall buildings and a few apartments. Perhaps the Alley was glamoured somehow? Harry loved reading fantasy books, and a lot of them involved magic. Sometimes, when something was hidden or changed it’s appearance with magic, they called it a glamour.

Aunt Petunia twisted the car keys and the motor shut off, the car quieting even more so. She turned around to face Harry in the back seat.

”You follow me, and you stay close. If you get lost, go inside one of the shops, one of the ones that are light and happy and _safe._ Anything else could be dangerous. You get an adult, one of the workers, tell them you were raised by Muggles, and that you got lost. Tell them my name. They should be able to get you back to me. Don’t touch anything, the lot of it is magic, and if you touch the wrong thing anything could happen. Don’t stare, don’t be rude, and don’t raise attention.” Aunt Petunia sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. 

”I’ll be fine, Aunt Petunia. Thank you for taking me.” Harry said truthfully. If she hadn’t, he might’ve not gone at all. Despite some of his doubts and fears about, _magic,_ it was an opportunity for something different, something away from the Dursleys. The only downside was leaving Akela.

”Aunt Petunia, since it’s obvious this isn’t common knowledge among Muggles,” Harry said, trying out the word. “Am I not allowed to tell a friend?”

”You are not. Only immediate family.” Aunt Petunia informed him.

_Damn._

Harry nodded, he knew he probably wasn’t. He would miss Akela, his first friend. He would have to write her, and make up a story during the summers.

”How would I get in touch with my friends? Do wizards have regular post?” Harry asked.

”Wizards have _owls._ They’ve trained them to deliver letters over long distances. As long as you address the letter accordingly, they should be able to find their destination. Lily’s always did.” Harry noticed Aunt Petunia looked a bit... nostalgic. Which to him was odd, she never looked happy talking about his mother. Instead, she always looked like she sucked a lemon.

”I shouldn’t have to tell you about not revealing anything in your letters. If the owl knows it’s being sent to a Muggle home, it doesn’t stay to send a letter back. Instead the Ministry of Magic-“

”Ministry of _Magic?”_

”Well, the British one, but yes, the Ministry will make sure that all letters from Muggles to wizarding locations are sent to the proper addresses.” Harry looked astounded.

”We should be going. It’s already ten.” Aunt Petunia said abruptly. She got out of the car and slammed her door shut. Harry got out and followed her into the pub next to the car.  
  
The building looked dilapidated and dingy, and swaying slightly above the doorway was a sign reading, _The Leaky Cauldron._

 _Well, I guess the weird names are normal._ Harry remarked. He followed Aunt Petunia into the building and closed the door behind them. 

The place was small and unnoticeable save for the swinging sign. If Harry hadn’t followed Aunt Petunia, he might’ve not even seen it.

Inside, the people were dressed in what looked like like cloaks. A maid rolled a cart through the tables and floated it up the stairs. Harry stared at the act, it was his first glimpse of magic. Aunt Petunia grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the bar.

”What can I get for you?” An old, graying man with a name tag reading _Tom_ asked helpfully.

”My nephew here is a wizard. My sister was a Muggleborn, which is why I am one. He has an account at Gringotts, I just would like some directions.” Aunt Petunia informed him rather awkwardly.

”Ah, the letters went out yesterday, didn’t they? Had a whole slew of people coming through.” Tom chuckled. “Just through that door over there, you’ll find Diagon Alley. Finding what you need shouldn’t be too hard. Gringotts is just straight through the biggest street, keep walking until you see the huge domed building that looks much fancier than most of the places here. Walk up to the tellers and- do you have the acceptance letter with you?” Tom stopped. Aunt Petunia nodded and pulled it out from her purse. “Good. Having that will back you up. They’ll likely still want to do a blood test.”

”Thank you, we would’ve been lost with out you.” Aunt Petunia said gratefully. Tom simply nodded and tipped his head. As Aunt Petunia and Harry turned and walked towards the door, Tom called out to Harry, “Good luck kid! Hogwarts will be the best years of your life!” Harry turned his head to him and gave a small smile.

Harry found out that Diagon Alley was _loud._ There were hordes of screaming kids and fretting mothers. Most everyone had on the weird dress things over regular clothes underneath. A couple families looked awed and a bit nervous as they took in all the bright lights and flying contraptions. One boy sailed over the crowd on- a broomstick?! 

” _Fred get down from there!”_ Roared a female voice. Harry laughed softly.

”Hooligans.” Aunt Petunia said quietly, ending Harry’s laughter. Aunt Petunia gripped his hand tightly as they made their way through the crowds of wizards and witches. Harry looked around with wide eyes, taking in the lights and sounds and smells. The smell of freshly baked pastries wafted from a shop labeled _Honeydukes_ , a shop window advertising a new thing called a Remembrall. Harry drunk it all in hungrily.

All his life, he’d never really belonged anywhere. Now he had an entire _world_ for him to discover, people who wouldn’t know him as the scrawny kid Dudley and his gang picked on, who wouldn’t know him as the punk kid at Number Four Privet Drive, who maybe wouldn't see him as a waste of space. An entirely new life.

Harry wasn’t quite sure what to look at in Gringotts. The elaborate carvings in the walls, the wizards and witches in what looked to be expensive clothing, or the short, wrinkly goblins.

”Goblins run the banks for wizards, they guard the vaults fiercely and are not to be offended. Speak only when spoken to. Be humble, but not a coward. Bow your head slightly when they first look at you, it’s a sign of respect.” Aunt Petunia told him lowly.

”H-how do you know this?” Harry asked softly. 

”Hogwarts has a fund for Muggleborns to use to buy their books. I went with Lily and your grandparents when she got her letter.” They approached the teller at one of the side counters.

”Name.” The teller said tonelessly.

”Petunia Dursley. But the account is for my nephew, Harry Potter.” Aunt Petunia said. The goblin’s eyes widened slightly and he moved over the counter to get a better look at Harry. Harry felt the urge to squirm under his gaze, but resisted and simply nodded his head slightly.

”I’m Harry Potter, sir.” Harry said quietly.

”I have his Hogwarts letter here if that helps.” Petunia handed the goblin his letter. The goblin skimmed it before turning back them.

”Wait here.” He said shortly and disappeared to one of the doorways behind the counters, before another goblin took his place.

”I am Vagor, the manager of the Potter accounts.” The goblin introduced himself. “You have the boy’s Hogwarts letter?” Vagor asked. Petunia nodded and handed him the envelope. 

”We will need to do a blood test to confirm that you are, in fact, Harry James Potter.” Vagor informed Harry. “Just a prick of blood on the paper.” Harry swallowed and looked to Aunt Petunia who nodded. He stepped closer and lifted his hand to the goblin. Vagor squeezed Harry’s pointer finger, produced a silver dagger, and pricked Harry’s finger. The blade barely stung, and Harry watched as the blood fell onto the paper. The blood expanded and turned nearly black as it depicted a wiry tree, names appearing. 

Connected to _Fleamont Henry Potter_ was _Euphemia Potter née Braithewaite_ , and from the connection the blood inked another name, _James Potter_ , which was connected to _Lily Dahlia Potter née Evans_ , who had a slimmer connection to the name in crimson _Petunia Rose Dursley née Evans_ , and depicted the Dursley’s names. The blood turned crimson again and wrote _Harry James Potter_ connected to _James Potter_ and _Lily Dahlia Potter née Evans_. As Harry observed the paper, it seemed that all the nearly black names were for the deceased, while the red names like his and Aunt Petunia were the living.

”Welcome to Gringotts, Heir Potter.” Vagor inclined his head. Harry but his lip as Vagor murmured a few words and the small cut on finger closed up.

”Why am I _Heir_ Potter?” Harry tilted his head slightly.

”You are the grandson of the last Lord Potter, Fleamont Potter. The last Heir was your father, James Potter, but as he’s deceased, you are now the Heir. You will have full control over the Potter accounts once you turn of age at seventeen. For now, you can withdraw whenever you like, but any large transactions or deals will be made with my supervision.”

”No one has touched the Potter funds in years. There a over two million in galleons in all of your vaults. Would you like to discuss it’s holdings in a private room?” Vagor asked him, noticeably ignoring Petunia.

”I- I don’t know much about magic yet, could I come back another time once I know more?” Harry asked hesitantly.

”You would be allowed too, or you could deal with them now and let me explain things to you.” Harry felt a little dizzy. He had a bank account? And he had two million Galleons? Whatever those were?

”I think I’ll come back.“ Harry said after a pause. “I only have today to pick up some money and my school things. When I’m more comfortable with magic, I’ll come back with some idea of what I want to do.” Vagor nodded.

”How much would you like to withdraw, Heir Potter?” Vagor asked.

”Really, Harry’s fine. And I’m not sure how much is enough to pay. I’m also not sure what galleons are...”

”Oh don’t worry, I can give you an estimate of how much you’ll need. Let me see this years list.” Vagor assured him. Petunia handed Vagor the letter, and Vagor spread it out in front of them in the counter. For the first time, Harry got a look at the letter that called him a wizard.  
  


HOGWARTS SCHOOL _of_ WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

    Dear Mr. Potter
    
    We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 
    Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

    Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
    

    Yours sincerely,

[ ](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/harrypotter/images/6/67/Minerva_McGonagall_sig.png/revision/latest?cb=20111220005427)

    Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

First-year students will require:

● Uniform

  *     * Three Sets of Plain Work Robes (Black)
    * One Plain Pointed Hat (Black) for day wear
    * One Pair of Protective Gloves (dragon hide or similar)
    * One Winter Cloak (Black, silver fastenings)
    * Please note that all student's clothes should carry name tags at all times.
  * Books 
    * _The Standard Book of Spells, Year One_ by Miranda Goshawk
    * _A History of Magic_ by Bathilda Bagshot
    * _Magical Theory_ by Adalbert Waffling
    * _A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration_ by Emeric Switch
    * _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ by Phyllida Spore
    * _Magical Draughts and Potions_ by Aresenius Jigger
    * _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ by Newt Scamander
    * _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_ by Quentin Thimble
  * Other Equipment 
    * 1 wand
    * 1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
    * 1 set of glass or crystal phials
    * 1 telescope
    * 1 set of brass scales
    * Students may also bring an Owl OR a Cat OR a Toad.
  * PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS.



Harry read the letter eagerly, feeling something in him grow at the wizarding terms, another thing that proved he belonged somewhere. After finishing the letter, he returned his attention to Vagor speaking to Aunt Petunia.

Vagor explained that wizarding currency in Britain consisted of three different coins, the galleon, sickle, and knut. Apparently wizards had no regard for easy math, because the translation of the three coins had were rather random. There were seventeen sickles in a galleon, and twenty-nine knuts in a sickle, meaning there were four hundred ninety three knuts to a galleon.

Vagor asked him if they would like to take the ride down to the vault, but when Aunt Petunia looked sick at the idea, he politely declined and waited back with her while Vagor withdrew the money he needed. When he returned, he handed Aunt Petunia a sack of coins that clinked together.

”Simply owl me if you ever have a question, Heir Potter. It has a been a pleasure meeting you. I wish you well at Hogwarts.” Vagor bowed again, and Harry mirrored the action. Harry smiled at Vagor before letting Aunt Petunia lead him away.

”We’re going to get your wand first.” Aunt Petunia announced. “The wand maker we visited for Lily has a shop here, his name is Ollivander.”

”How do I choose a wand?” Harry said curiously.

”You don’t really pick the wand, the wizards say ‘the wand picks you’. Ollivander will hand you wands to try, and you’ll simply try them out. You’re supposed to know when it’s the right one.” Harry walked silence for the rest of the walk to Ollivanders’.

The door jingled as it hit the bell above it, prompting a bearded old man to come out of the rows of long, rectangle boxes, like a thinner shoe box.

”Ah, another first year, are you? Muggleborn?” Ollivander asked.

”His mother was a Muggleborn, my sister, I raised him.” Petunia said tightly.

”But of course.” Ollivander soothed with a smile. ”Well come here, we haven’t got all day.” Ollivander said jovially, gesturing at Harry. 

”My word...” Ollivander gasped as he got a closer look at Harry, and his scar. “Harry Potter?”

”Yes?” Harry responded nervously.

”It is an honor to have you buy a wand from me.” Ollivander bowed lowly. Harry swiveled to Petunia, confusion and nervousness clear on his face, to which Petunia only shrugged, a look of bewilderment on hers.

”I- thank you?” Harry said awkwardly.

”Of course, anything for the Boy-Who-Lived.”

Harry blanched. “The boy who _what?”_

”The Boy-Who-Lived, of course.” When confusion remained on Harry’s face, Ollivander paled slightly.

”Do-do you not know? You don’t know what you’ve done?” Ollivander asked incredulously.

”I- no, I’ve only known about magic since this morning, I’m sorry, what did I do?” Harry apologized weakly.

”Well, you’re the only person to have bested the Killing Curse!” 

”The _what?”_

“Ah, you need someone better to explain...” Ollivander looked nearly sick. “I assume today you’re picking up your supplies for Hogwarts?” Harry nodded. “Well then, look for _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Lord_ by Carina Hawkings, she explains the matter quite well.” Harry simply nodded again, rather confused.

Well, at least there was a book on it. Books always made sense to him.

”Anyways, let’s get your wand, shall we?” Ollivander sized up Harry, mumbling measurements and grabbing a box from behind him.

”Try this, eleven inches, cherry wood, unicorn hair, unyielding.” Harry looked at it a bit skeptically before taking if from him.

”Well, give it a wave!” Ollivander motioned. Harry swished it in the air, and a box went flying out the window.

”Merlin, no, try this.” Ollivander offered another box, and Harry waved this wand too, only for a small puff of smoke to explode in his face, leaving Harry trying to wave it away.

”Not quite, but getting closer...” Ollivander rummaged in the shelves beside him, and dug out another box.

”Here, nine inches, vine wood, thestral tail hair. Relatively bendy.” Harry picked up the wand, waved it, and the smell of ink and chocolate filled the room. Harry recognized the chocolate, it smelled just the cookies Akela would bring on Fridays.

”Ah, there we are. The wood in that wand is give to those with great purpose and who are intelligent and selfless. The core is one of the most unstable to use, it takes a special person to use it. That’ll be seven galleons.” Aunt Petunia pulled out the little sack of coins Vagor had given them, handing the man seven gold galleons.

”Use the wand wisely, Harry. Also, you might want to cover that scar of yours. If make you recognizable.” Ollivander advised.

”Cover his scar? Why would it make it make him recognizable?” Aunt Petunia asked him, eyes sharpening.

”Thats a curse scar, and a very famous one at that. Read that book I recommended you, _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Lord_ , by Carina Hawkings. It explains everything. But for now, if you want to stay inconspicuous, that scar won’t do you any good.” 

Aunt Petunia looked worryingly at Harry’s forehead, wondering how she would cover it.

”Oh, just let me.” Ollivander groaned. Ollivander Summoned a dark green beanie from his nephew’s childhood clothes, knowing he wouldn’t miss it. He tossed it to Petunia who caught it and gave it a look of disgust.

”It’s up to you, you can cover it and finish your shopping in peace, or have over half the people here clamor to see him.” Ollivander pointed out. Aunt Petunia sighed and walked over to Harry, who was busy thinking about curse scars, there had to be a book on it? Petunia tugged the beanie over his dark waves and pulled over his forehead, successfully covering his scar. She tucked it under his head and felt a surge of motherly affection for the boy before remembering who Harry was. She steeled her eyes and let her hands drop from Harry, who noticed nothing.

”Let’s go Harry. Thank you, sir.” Petunia nodded at him. Ollivander gave a vague smile before disappearing into the rows and rows of boxes. 

”Where else, Aunt Petunia?” Harry looked up at his aunt.

”Your books will be next, we’ll being going to one of their most popular bookshops, Flourish and Blotts. They should have everything you need.”

Books! Finally! Harry could let Aunt Petunia look for his school books while he looked at the books _he_ wanted to read, preferably about curse scars and wizarding history. Surely he would need to know the history.

All this magic was new and somewhat frightening to Harry, but books were a familiar subject, they were old friends in a time of change. He would be alright.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i couldn’t take the pottermore test for rEaSoNs, so i took a different one thinking like harry in this. i also used the actual hogwarts letter harry got in the book, if it seems familiar. the chapter ended up being longer than i anticipated, so the next chapter will finish diagon alley.


	3. three

Flourish and Blotts, like the rest of the Alley, was crowded and buzzing with people. There were three lines at the register, and two seemed to be for the Hogwarts rush, because the clerks running those lines looked frazzled and all the families there seemed to be holding similar books. The other line was significantly shorter and had less kids.

”Aunt Petunia, would it be alright if I looked for some of the books on my own? I want to get a few books that aren’t coursework.” Harry asked quietly. Petunia took a long-suffering breath, and exhaled loudly.

”Fine. Don’t you dare leave this shop. In half an hour, come back here, right by this table. I’ll get your required books, and then we’ll pay for your other books in the regular line.” Petunia said firmly.

”Thank you, Aunt Petunia.” Harry said gratefully. He turned and left Petunia to hurry for the other bookshelves.

It took him almost no time to find the book Ollivander had recommended to him, and he’d began to anxiously play with the sickles and galleons in his pockets, looking for books that would interest him. Harry ignored the books advertising adventures and mysteries, right now he need information on magic, he didn’t want to go into Hogwarts blind. Harry spotted the title _Hogwarts, A History_ by a Bathilda Bagshot, the same author of _A History of Magic._ Harry immediately plucked it off the shelf and began to thumb through the pages getting glimpses of the school. The book included diagrams of the living quarters, the classrooms, and the grounds, and it had extensive knowledge of the classes and the history. Once satisfied that the book would help him learn about Hogwarts, he put it under his arm with _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Lord_ underneath his arm.

Harry moved to the further back aisles, reading titles in mind as he looked for anything that seemed like it would have to do with curse scars. He couldn’t get Ollivander’s rambling about his scar out of his mind, he wanted to know what it meant. As Harry moved farther back the titles began to escalate from _Remedial Healing Potions_ to _Blood Rituals and Their Benefits_. At least he seemed to be getting into more serious territory.

”What are you looking for back here?” A voice inquired. Harry turned to see a dark skinned boy wearing deep blue robes raise an eyebrow.

”I’m trying to find a book on curse scars.” Harry reluctantly answered, seeing no real reason to lie.

”What promoted _that_ idea?” The boy asked disbelievingly.

”Call it a curious kid’s research.” Harry shrugged, a small grin on his lips.

”Research.” The boy deadpanned.

”You don’t have to like it. It’s not like it’s dangerous or illegal.” Harry paused. “Is it?”

”No, it’s not, but it’s- why would you care about that?” The boy‘s dark brown eyes staring at him.

”Research.” Harry repeated cheerfully. The boy heaved a sigh.

”Fine then. If you really want to learn about curse scars, you’re in the wrong aisle.” The boy walked to the aisle next to him, and Harry followed. The boy reached up to one of the higher shelves and pulled down an aubergine book with bronze inscription on the cover, reading _The Ramifications of Curses._

”This one has three chapters on curse scars, both mental and physical. It details why the curse might leave a scar, and most of the known ones through out history, like the curse that tilted the Muggle Leaning Tower of Pisa.” The boy explained. Harry’s eyebrows shot up.

”That was magic?”

”Of course it was, a building leaning that far couldn’t possibly hold itself up on its own. Muggles explained it by arguing that the ground underneath one side of the tower was too soft, pssh. Muggles will ignore magic even when it’s right in front of them.” The boy rolled his dark eyes.

”Why was the tower cursed?” Harry asked curiously.

”Some wizards were dueling near the construction site, and a curse went flying past it’s intended target and struck the building. It was supposed to make the other wizard unstable and wobble, but it hit the building, and the building was too big for the curse to fully make it fall, so weirdly enough the curse held it tilting.”

”Huh.” Harry said eloquently.

”Essentially, yeah.” The boy said with a dry smile. ”I’m Blaise Zabini.” He held out a hand. Harry shook it and smiled.

”I’m Harry.”

”Nice to meet you Harry-who-reads-about-curse-scars-for-fun.” Zabini smirked.

”Oh shut up, you were back here too.” Harry sniped.

”Touché. Are you a first year as well?” Zabini asked.

”Yeah, me and my aunt are getting my school things today.”

”Your aunt?” Zabini said questioningly.

”Er, my parents died when I was a kid.” Harry said awkwardly.

”Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

”No, it’s fine, really, I didn’t know them so it’s not like I felt any sort of grief. Sure, I would’ve liked to have met them, but it’s alright. Besides, you didn’t know.” Harry assured him. 

”Alright then.” Zabini leaned against the bookshelf. ”What house do you think you’ll be in at Hogwarts?”

”Houses?”

”Yeah, you know, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor.” Zabini explained.

”My mother was a Muggleborn, and I live with her sister, and I wasn’t raised with magic. I only learned about it this morning when I got my letter.” Harry explained.

”Raised with Muggles? Why would they do that?” Zabini asked incredulously.

”My Muggle relatives are the only family I have.” Harry answered simply.

”Did they know about magic?”

”My aunt and uncle, they did. They didn’t tell my cousin though. They don’t like magic all that much anyways, they think it’s fr- weird.” Harry stumbled not to say ‘freakish’. Zabini shook his head. 

”That should be illegal, isn’t there anyway you could’ve been raised by someone magic?” Zabini asked with an edge to his voice.

”I don’t think so.” Harry frowned.

”Well, at least you’re going to Hogwarts now.” Zabini sighed, and then paused. ”Would you like me to explain the Houses?”

”Ah, sure, thanks.” Harry rubbed the back of his head and smiled.

”Alright then, there are four Houses. Gryffindor is the House of the brave, courageous, and chivalrous. But they’re also rather brash, reckless, and often rude or obnoxious. Hufflepuff is the House of the kind, loyal, and compassionate. But they also take in anyone who doesn’t fit in with the other Houses. Hufflepuffs do tend to be non-confrontational and sometimes pushovers though. If you’re smart, or like academics, you’ll probably end up in Ravenclaw. They often get the best marks, but they can be teachers’ pets and rather focused on learning, not socializing. Slytherins are the ones with ambition, cunning, and shrewdness. Because of that, they get a bad rep for being deceitful and liars, which is not wrong, but a lot of them are actually decent people.”

”Huh. What House do you think you’ll be in?” Harry asked Zabini.

”I’m guessing either Slytherin or Ravenclaw.” He said shortly.

”Cool.” Harry scratched the back of his head. That beanie was warm, but kinda itchy.

”What about you? Although,” Zabini looked at his books. ”I’d say there’s a good chance you’d be Ravenclaw.” Harry grinned and shifted his weight to carry the books easier.

”Intelligence, huh? I think I’d be okay with that.” Harry laughed. Zabini smirked and shook his head.

”Hey, whats your surname? If your parents were wizards, I might know them.” Zabini suddenly said.

”You think you know all the British witches and wizards well enough to know some insignificant orphan’s parents?” Harry asked.

”It’s possible.” Zabini said nonchalantly.

”Tell you what, if you can guess my last name when we get on the train I’ll give you ten galleons.” Harry gave him a sly look.

”So, we’ll see each other on the train?” Zabini asked hesitantly.

”If it’s alright with you.” Harry shrugged. Zabini held out his hand again.

”I suppose it is. I’ll see you then, and I’ll be expecting my galleons.” Harry smiled and shook it.

”See you then, Zabini.” 

”What in the world is _that?”_ Aunt Petunia asked in a high voice. Harry looked down to the purple book from Zabini he’d been carrying, along with _Hogwarts, A History_ and a couple other books that when he skimmed them seemed to explain the wizarding world and the subjects at school pretty well. Each of them were extensive in their knowledge and a minimum of five hundred pages each. He supposed most of them wouldn’t be called _thin_ , but he didn’t think they were _that_ big.

”Just some light reading.” Harry said innocently. Aunt Petunia scrutinized the books before sighing and pulling out the money.

”Just like Lily.” She grumbled lowly, but didn’t protest the books. They moved forward in the line and finally made it to the counter, a blue-haired woman manning it. Harry gently laid down all of his books, being careful not to damage them.

”That’s a pretty advanced book. Are you sure you wouldn’t want a different one?” The cashier raised an eyebrow at the book about curse scars. Harry shook his head and smiled cheerfully up at her.

”I’m good.” He beamed. The lady shook her head, reminding him of Zabini, and mumbled under her breath “Ravenclaws.”

The books took up a surprisingly large amount of their money, and found about half their budget gone. 

”Uniforms are next. The students who can afford it will often go to personal tailors, but most students go to Madam Malkins. That’s where we’re going.” Aunt Petunia told Harry.

”What are the uniforms like?” Harry looked up at her.

”I’m not really sure. I can’t remember Lily’s uniform, she always put it on once they got to Hogwarts, and wouldn’t wear it at home, said it was too many layers.” Aunt Petunia mused.

  
Madam Malkins was a short woman with dark, focused eyes and greying hair. She also had nimble fingers, Harry noticed, as she stitched and altered the uniforms to fit the students correctly. A little girl with blonde wavy hair waved as she and the woman with her left with their bags floating. Harry watched with wide eyes, still loving every bit of magic he saw.

”It’s already the afternoon, and we still have to get your other classroom supplies. I‘ll get them now, and Madam Malkins will fit you for your clothes. Here,” Aunt Petunia have Harry close to thirty galleons. “That should be enough to pay. When you’re done, wait here, I’ll come back for you. After, we’ll get something to eat quickly, and then we’ll leave.” Aunt Petunia rushed out. 

”I- okay, can I read if I have to wait for you?” Harry asked.

”Yes, yes, just don’t damage or lose anything. I’ll be back by an hour and a half.” And with that Aunt Petunia left the shop. Harry sat down with the bag of books he’d been carrying and pulled out _Hogwarts, A History._ Harry had been reading about the four founders and their values, and about the prejudice that came with each House. He’d been staring on Helga Hufflepuff when Madam Malkins finished with the long-haired girl she’d been working on.

”Well then, come on, I have a lot of you to do today, get up here.” Madam Malkins said impatiently to Harry. Harry put down the bag and walked quickly over to her, seeing the woman’s frazzled state.

Madam Malkins first measured him with a floating tape measure, mumbling different numbers and lifting his arms up and down, trying to see how he moved. When she seemed satisfied with her examination, she left briefly and returned with a pair of pants, a sweater, a button down, and a cloak.

”Try these on, and I’ll work from there.” The woman said hurriedly, after dumping the clothes with him she moved to the boy on the pedestal a few feet away.

Harry moved to the dressing room cautiously, not wanting to drop any of the clothes. He laid the clothes down on the the little ottoman and swung the curtain shut before pulling off his beanie. Quickly changing into the clothes, he looked in the mirror and was slightly unnerved by how he looked in well-fitting clothes. The pants were a bit long, but they weren’t overly baggy or hanging off his hips. The button down was soft and surprisingly comfortable, and the grey sweater over that was warm. He never wore nice clothes like these, instead wearing Dudley’s old t-shirts and shorts, which were entirely too large for him. Harry looked in the mirror and then, remembering Ollivander’s warning about the scar, put the beanie back on his head, pulling it over the scar. He wasn’t quite comfortable wearing the uniform, even if it felt good on his skin and it fit right. He came out of the dressing room with the cloak in his hands.

”Do you want me to put on the cloak now, or later?” Harry called nervously to the seamstress.

”Mm, put it on now, I’ll do that first and then your sweater, and then your pants and shirt.” Madam Malkins said distractedly. ”Stand on the platform over there, I’ll come over when I’m ready.” Harry climbed up to the platform, looking around the shop.

The tailor’s was a lot less crowded than the other shops, and the only other people there were a couple kids and their parents sitting on the chairs where Harry was waiting, and a girl with brown hair on the other platform, uniform full of hemming needles. Madam Malkins had left earlier to go deal with the delivery man who’d appeared at her back door. Based on the volume of her voice, she wasn’t exactly happy.

”First year too?” Harry called out tentatively to the girl.

”Yeah. My older sister Isobel is in Ravenclaw though.” She smiled. ”I’m Morag, Morag MacDougal. I’d shake your hand, but...” MacDougal gestured to the several feet of space between them, prompting a small laugh from Harry.

”I’m Harry, and don’t worry, it’s not a big deal.” As Harry looked at the girl with her facing him, he could see that her hair curled at the ends and had bangs cut straight across her forehead, with brown eyes to match. He thought she looked quite pretty, even if it was a quiet kind of beauty, what with how she looked plain, her curled hair the only blatantly remarkable part of her appearance.

”What House do you think you’ll be in?” Harry asked, looking to make conversation. 

”Well, my sister wants me in Ravenclaw with her, and I do like the idea of being in the house devoted to education, but I don’t know if I’m smart enough for it. I like learning, sure, but I don’t know if I’d want that to be my whole life.” MacDougal shrugged.

”I don’t think Ravenclaw is all books, tests, studying, I think it’s more a desire to learn and wanting to further what you already know.” Harry suggested.

”That’s... actually a really good view on it...” MacDougal looked to be thinking.

”I know that every House has its stereotypes, even though I’m new to magic, but I think that each House has their flaws and their hidden strengths.” Harry smiled.

”Well then, Harry, what House do you think you’ll be in?” MacDougal raised an eyebrow.

”I don’t have a real strong idea or opinion on what House I am, but I was told I’d make a good Ravenclaw.” Harry tapped his chin thoughtfully.

”If we both get Sorted there, I’ll be sure to sit with you at the Welcoming Feast.”

”There’s a Welcoming Feast?!” 

”Yeah, it’s after the Sorting, basically for everyone to stuff themselves before classes the next day.” MacDougal squinted at him. ”You’re a Muggleborn, right?”

”Uh, no, I’m a half-blood.” Harry said awkwardly.

”Then why don’t you know this stuff already?” MacDougal frowned. ”Most of the Hogwarts traditions are spread to incoming students, even the ones without older siblings already there.”

”Er, my parents were wizards, but they died when I was a kid, and I love with my Muggle relatives.” MacDougal immediately looked like she wanted to hug him. ”Oh it’s not a big deal, I don’t remember them anyways.”

”I still feel bad for bringing it up.” MacDougal folded her arms, yelping when the forgotten needles pricked her.

”You didn’t ask me how my dead parents are doing in their graves.” Harry said sarcastically. MacDougal gaped at him. ”My point is, you didn’t do anything wrong, don’t worry.”

”Alright then.” MacDougal furrowed her brows. ”But if your Muggle relatives know about magic, why didn’t they tell you anything?”

”They don’t exactly like magic, so they didn’t tell me anything. The only reason I’m allowed to go to Hogwarts is because they don’t have to see me for most of the year.”

”Merlin, that’s terrible. At least you don’t have to see them as much now.” MacDougal said.

”True.”

  
Madam Malkins returned from yelling at the delivery man and finished with MacDougal, who waved goodbye to him with a friendly smile when she left. Madam Malkins had finally gotten to him, and the entire time he’d listened to her mutter ‘Why are you so skinny, it’s not natural, honestly boy, eat a damn sandwich.’ as she hemmed his trousers and sleeves to fit his shorter frame. In the end, he found himself liking the uniform, even if he was unused to it. He’d paid with about a third of the money Aunt Petunia gave him, leaving him to wait for her while continuing _Hogwarts, A History._

Aunt Petunia had come to pick him up not long after, carrying a brown trunk with her. She explained to him stone-faced that the trunk could carry more books than it looked like it could, and that it was to be his Hogwarts trunk. Harry helped her put away his books inside and they left to go eat. The lunch was quiet, neither of them talking with each other, and Harry found he did not mind the silence, for he could continue _Hogwarts, A History_ undisturbed. They finished quickly, and left to go back to The Leaky Cauldron to return to the car.

Seeing all the families talking and shopping together, Harry thought about his own parents, wondering if he would’ve gone to Diagon Alley with them if they hadn’t died. He was thinking about what he might’ve known then, and how he would’ve done things, when he realized that he hadn’t seen many electrical machines in Diagon Alley. Nearly everything had been run by magic. So then how did his parents die in a _car crash_ of all things?

”Aunt Petunia?” He finally asked.

”Yes?” She snapped impatiently. And there was the Aunt Petunia he knew. She’d been so compliant with him today, he’d started to get a bit worried.

”You told me my parents were murdered. Why did someone want to kill them?” Harry looked up at her.

”All I know is that a wizard murdered them, and you were sent to us. I don’t know anything else, and I don’t want to.” Aunt Petunia said stonily. 

For eleven years, he had been told that his parents were drunks and had crashed their car, resulting in their death. He’d never questioned it, what good would it have done for his relatives to lie to him? Since Aunt Petunia had dropped the bombshell of magic, he’d kind of left his parent’s death for that. (Don’t judge him, he’s never met his parents and magic could save him from a life of serving the Dursleys.)

He didn’t know what to do. What was the proper procedure for one finding out their parents had been murdered? Grieve, probably, but despite the anger he felt towards the Dursley’s for lying to him, he felt no particular sadness over the news. He never knew his parents, so no bond was there, and the fact that were murdered changed nothing other than the fact that perhaps he now had to research it in case he was in danger too? 

If there was actually a fucking murderer looking to kill him he might scream.

Harry and Aunt Petunia walked quietly side-by-side to The Leaky Cauldron, and Harry noticed the various owls, cats, and toads being carried by kids, and Harry realized an owl would be useful.

”Aunt Petunia, could we visit a pet shop to buy an owl? They send letters, and we still have some money left...” Harry trailed off.

”Fine.” Petunia sighed lowly. “But after this, we’re leaving.” She looked around, head swerving, and only when she tapped a woman delicately did Harry realize she was looking for someone to ask for directions.

”Excuse me, but i was just wondering if you knew where I could buy an owl? It’s been a while since I’ve been here.” Aunt Petunia smiled apologetically at the witch, her ‘be nice for the camera’ face on.

”Ah, the Alley has changed quite a bit over the years, hasn’t it?” The witch smiled. ”You would have to head up there, past Florian Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, the one with the pastel colors, and a couple stores up you’d find Eyelops Owl Emporium. That shop is rather busy, though as you can see from the line outside, so you could also go to A Magical Menagerie down near Ollivander’s, below us. Eyelops focuses on owls, so their owls are more expensive, but you can also find more grooming supplies and feed there. The Menagerie has owls, toads, cats, snakes, a whole bunch of other animals. They tend to cost less, but have a smaller variety of feed and supplies because they have to compensate for every animal. Up to you which one you’d like to go to.”

”Thank you so much,” Petunia simpered. “I don’t know where I would’ve gone without you.” 

”Of course.” The witch smiled again. ”Come along, Lee.” The boy at her side was older than Harry, and grinned impishly at him before leaving with his mother.

”Let’s go, we’re going to the Menagerie place, we don’t have time for a long wait.” Petunia said impatiently. Harry just nodded and tugged his beanie further over his forehead.

It was as if _loud_ was the theme going for Diagon Alley. A Magical Menagerie wasn’t quite as crowded as Flourish and Blotts, but the animal noises and the sound of kids squealing (or screaming) filled the would have been quiet. Harry looked at the owls calculatingly, looking for a plain one that looked healthy. He didn’t want to take one that was too young, he didn’t want to steal it from their parents too young, even if the breeders didn’t think it was too young. And he certainly didn’t want one that was too old, it wouldn’t last long and likely would have a hard time doing it’s job.

Harry pushed his finger through the bars of the cage tentatively, leaving enough for the bird to nip it, but not enough to bite it harshly. The bird tilted it’s head before nipping the finger. Harry smiled, he thought had found the right bird, when-

_”Mew.”_

The small sound came from the cat section, small and pitiful. Harry frowned, and reluctantly withdrew from the cage, turning to the area the noise had originated from.

 _”Mew.”_ The mewl repeated. Harry traced the sounds to a small cage in the corner of the shop, where a small black cat with white paws was curled up pathetically.

Harry held out his finger yet again through the bars and the cat stood up to nudge its head against it. Harry curled his fingers around it’s ears, rubbing gently, and the cat purred softly. Harry smiled and continued to massage its velvet-like ears, noticing that the cat looked considerably smaller than the other cats in the aisle, but didn’t have a mother in the cage like the other kittens.

”Hey, excuse me?” Harry turned and called out the passing employee. ”Sorry, I was just wondering, why is this cat so small?”

”Oh, that one? That’s the kitten our breeder brought in a couple weeks ago. It’s mother died when she was about four weeks old and we had to finish feeding her milk for a couple days until she was weaned off. She’s stayed in there her whole time here, seems to be depressed.” The employee frowned. ”Really good behavior-wise though, she always comes up at feeding time and doesn’t make much noise.” The kitten _meowed_ with a yawn, ears pressing back and toes curling. She mewled again before settling back down, pushing against Harry’s hand as if it wanted more pets. He diligently resumed rubbing, her grey-silver eyes blinking shut again.

Damn this cat, the owl really was the smart choice to buy, but...

He took another look at the kitten nipping at its paws and decided _screw it, he was gonna get the cat._

When he showed up in line to Aunt Petunia, the woman stared dubiously at the kitten.

”Please Aunt Petunia, she’s just a kitten, and her mother died, and she’s really quiet, I bet I could house train her quickly, I’ll buy the feed-“ Harry rambled like a kid asking for a puppy.

”Fine, _fine,_ just keep her quiet, and don’t let Vernon or Dudley see her.” Aunt Petunia said harshly. At this point, she was too tired to care about the damn cat.

” _Thank you,_ Aunt Petunia, I promise, she’ll be quiet.” Harry beamed at her. Upon seeing the boy’s happy expression, she felt the feeling she only felt when looking at Dudley: maternal love.

 _Well fuck._ Petunia swore in her head. 

Harry cooed at the kitten, scratching behind her ears and rubbing her head. The cashier smiled at Harry’s obvious affection for the kitten, and after giving them the sack of two months worth of feed, had offered them the option of a collar.

”The collar tracks her, and if you connect the collar to your wand, you can bring her to you if she ever gets loose. The house elves at Hogwarts could likely find her, but if they can’t or they don’t have time, this will be an option. It’s also just useful in everyday life.” The cashier explained. Harry remembered the house elves from _Hogwarts, A History_ , and decided despite their powerful magic, he’d like to have the option of being able to find her at all times. Harry looked up at Aunt Petunia with pleading eyes, and Petunia groaned, fishing out the last few sickles they had. 

”Here, say the words _accio felinus_ and thanks to the connection spell we put on the collar, it’ll bring her right in front of you. If you don’t mind, I’ll need your wand.” The cashier explained. Harry hesitantly handed the man his wand, and he muttered a few words, the grey-purple wand glowing softly as the silver collar glowed too. He handed Harry back his wand, and fastened the collar around the kitten’s neck.

”Is there a name you have in mind for her?” The cashier asked expectantly. A few names flew through Harry’s mind, one of them Akela, but he decided if he was reminded of his only friend who’d he’d be leaving whenever he looked at the cat, he might feel quite as good around her.

”Selene.” Harry said confidently. Her silver eyes reminded him of the moon on a clear night. He’d wanted to give a name that meant something, and Selene was the Titan of the moon in Greek mythology.

”Of course.” The man smiled. He waved his wand and _Selene_ inscripted itself onto the collar. Harry waved goodbye to the cashier, and left with Aunt Petunia to go back to Privet Drive.

Harry continued to pet Selene as they walked back to The Leaky Cauldron, the kitten seeming very content with her massage. Tom, the bartender, smiled at them as they walked out to the car, and Harry stopped to wave at him, while Petunia soldiered on, wanting to get out already. 

Petunia drove them home, Harry watching Selene sleep as thought about magic. He’d had a lot of questions at first, but with the books he’d gotten, now he could get some answers.   
_  
Only a month and a half till September._ Harry thought. _Then I’ll have all these opportunities. I can get away from the Dursleys_ _for good._ Harry reflected on Aunt Petunia’s behavior that day. She’d shown him more patience and kindness in a single day than she had in a year. Perhaps it was he had magic like Lily? But Aunt Petunia had shown that she wanted nothing to do with magic, so Harry really wasn’t sure.

Whatever the case, Hogwarts meant a new start for Harry. And he’d already met two of his classmates, Zabini and MacDougal. Hopefully, they’d like to be friends with him.

Harry couldn’t wait for September.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there’s a big mess about Morag MacGougal and how she’s also Isobel MacDougal and Isobel-Morag MacDougal so i just decided to make them two separate people lmao
> 
> i added the cat instead of an owl (which would be the ravenclaw thing to buy tbh) because of the cat i saw a couple days ago, it was the only good thing on my run and i may have taken two minutes longer to finish my mile but it was worth it, that cat was adorable, how can people hate cats tf
> 
> also i really wanted to name the cat padmé but the phantom menace didn’t come out till 1999 so like eight years too early and now i’m sitting in my bed all salty


	4. four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it’s mostly just harry figuring out the wizarding world without any help and making his own fucking decisions
> 
> oh and also vernon gets drunk, and that goes about as well as it can be expected to.
> 
> warning for physical child abuse and drinking.

Harry returned home to Dudley throwing his dirty clothes at Harry, demanding that he wash them. Harry looked to Aunt Petunia, who nodded and left his school things (along with Selene) in the cupboard. He put the clothes in the wash before going to help Aunt Petunia with dinner, a larger than usual steak to placate Uncle Vernon for the morning.

Harry stayed up till two washing Dudley’s clothes, running back and forth between his cupboard and the washing machine when the machine beeped. After he hung up the clothes and folded what he could, he would read in the cupboard with Selene in his lap, subconsciously rubbing her head in circles. He’d wanted to attempt some magic, but remembered Aunt Petunia’s warning. He’d still thought about attempting some small charms like the lumos charm or the floating charm, but had read about the Ministry of Magic’s Trace on underage wizardry. The Ministry could track magic anywhere to anyone under seventeen, and if there were no wizarding adults in your location, any magic you did would easily be traced to you, and after three repeat offenses they would expel you from Hogwarts.

Appalled by the idea of expelling someone because of something as simple as a kid practicing their homework, he looked into it in the law book he’d bought. He found out that the Trace was implemented when child attempted an advanced spell and it went wrong. She’d ended up burning down half her town, and killing four wizards, one of them her brother. The witch was given therapy, and the Trace had quickly been passed so that wizards under the legal adult age could not practice magic while they were not at school, where the professors would be well equipped to handle any accidents. 

Harry realized that any regular wizarding family with adult wizards could easily defy the Trace, they could simply argue that any magic coming from their household was the adult wizard’s. Harry thought about it and came to the conclusion that if an underage wizard had an adult one with them, the adult could likely handle it as long as it wasn’t too drastic. The fine for underage wizardry was a hefty fifty galleons, which was a lot to pay. The families seemed to do well enough anyways, underage magic caused a few accidents here and there, but nothing that warranted a criminal trial.

Instead of practicing spells, Harry focused on the coursework books he’d bought. He’d finished the chapters on the founders, and had learned that he might be what was called a Parselmouth. The book mentioned that Salazar Slytherin, the founder of Slytherin House, had been a Parselmouth, and could speak to snakes. Harry had thought he’d heard words hissed at him before, but had put it off to exhaustion, or dehydration, or simply his imagination.

A week or two ago he had been to the zoo for Dudley’s birthday. His aunt and uncle couldn’t find anyone to watch him while they went, no matter that he was ten and could spend a couple hours home alone. They didn’t trust him, and took Harry with them. The whole time Piers Polkiss had pinched him, stepped on the back of his shoes, and spit gum at his hair. He’d been able to dodge the gum, but the pinches had left red angry marks, and he kept having to adjust his shoes. He’d thought he heard a slithery voice threaten Polkiss when he was banging on the plexiglass barrier, but had ignored it for pretending it wasn’t real.

Parselmouths were rare, less than five hundred had been born in Britain since Salazar Slytherin, although they were more common in India and other parts of Asia. In Britain, Parseltounge had been seen as a Grey or Dark skill, but in India and the other parts of Asia it was a praised gift and had once been worshipped.

Harry had been confused on what Grey and Dark magic meant, so he tried looking for it in the book, but found nothing except that Dark magic was, essentially, evil. Harry had tried his other books, and in _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_ he found what looked like a high biased view on the subject. He skimmed it briefly before putting it aside and trying his other books. _Curse Scars and Their Ramifications_ , the book Zabini had given him had explained what Dark, Grey, and Light magic was in the beginning of the book. It went on to explain how the different types of magics might turn up in the aftermath of curses, but Harry decided to ignore that bit for after. He resolved to ask Zabini, or perhaps MacDougal, if they knew anything.

The next day continued like that and while Harry was washing dishes he absentmindedly daydreamed about life at Hogwarts and remembered that he wouldn’t be seeing Akela anymore. Then he realized he still had to tell her.

_Shit._

_  
_The next day he practically ran to the library to see Akela. He had worried about it all night and had overslept because of it, and Aunt Petunia had woken him up with a slap to the door and extra garden work.

”-Akela-” Harry burst into the library, Mrs. Yoakum quickly shushing him. He gave her an apologetic smile before rushing to the table where his best and only friend sat.

”I’m so sorry I’m late, it’s just I overslept, and Aunt Petunia had extra chores for me today-”

”Harry, it’s fine, honestly, just sit down already.” Akela rolled her eyes playfully. Harry flushed and sat down, dropping his ratty backpack on the floor. Akela continued to read her book, dark eyes roaming over the pages. Harry fidgeted, not knowing how to tell her he was leaving and she wouldn’t be able to see him for most of the year.

”Do you need to tell me something, Harry?” Akela raised an eyebrow when Harry began twisting in his seat, nervously wringing his hands under the table.

”I’m changing schools.” Harry finally blurted out. Akela blinked.

”Okay... We already go to different schools.” She pointed out

”I- yeah, but I’m going to a boarding school, in- in Scotland.” Harry rushed out.

” _Scotland?_ But, that’s- thats _hours_ away!” Akela’s expression of calm confusion dropped, leaving shock and desperation.

”I know, I know, but my parents went there, and they’re giving me a full ride, and the Dursley’s are letting me go because they don’t have to deal with me for most of the year. I can do things without Dudley ruining them, I can actually get good grades, this could change my life Akela.” Harry pleaded. He hadn’t mentioned anything about magic, but had spilled his thoughts nonetheless. Hogwarts was a chance for Harry, a chance he couldn’t give up.

”Will I ever see you?” Akela asked in a small voice. 

”The Dursley’s don’t want me home for Christmas, so you won’t see me till June.” Akela’s eyes filled with tears. Harry was surprised at the sight of her crying. Akela was the toughest person he knew, always taking care of him and scaring Dudley and Polkiss off.   
  
”You still have me until September first!” Harry tried to reassure her.

”Akela, you never cry, what’s wrong?” Harry asked worriedly when her eyes continued leak tears. Akela wiped at her face angrily.

”It’s just...” Akela pressed the bottom part of her palms on her eyes, trying to stop her crying. ”You’re my best friend.” Akela’s voice fell softly. Harry felt his eyes tear up too.

”I’m sorry, it’s just a really great opportunity, and no one will know me there as ‘Dudley’s cousin’...” Harry hugged Akela tightly, tears falling from underneath his glasses. He hadn’t expected to cry today, and Akela’s sadness brought the fact that he would rarely see her anymore to the front of his mind.

”I’ll spend all the time I can with you, I’ll write, I’ll send you gifts on Christmas and your birthday, and I promise I won’t forget about you.” Harry begged her not to cry.

”... You better send me the best gifts.” Akela sniffled, before Harry collided with her with another hug, knocking over the books on the table.

  
  
The last days of the summer flew by, every extra minute spent in the cupboard reading or with Akela, making the last days he had with her good ones. He ate all of the musubis her mom sent with her, and asked her questions about Polynesia and Oahu, knowing he was going to miss her storytelling and lectures.

Meanwhile at Privet Drive, Dudley had tried to torture Harry as much as he could when Harry didn’t tell him about the new school he was going to, until Aunt Petunia scolded him and took his bike. Now, Dudley mostly leaves him alone in favor of playing with Polkiss and shooting him glares every now and then. 

The most surprising thing he’d learned that summer was that he was in fact _famous_ , and for killing a Dark Lord no less. Apparently the Killing Curse the Dark Lord (Voldemort, what a ridiculous name) had shot at him had been responsible for the lightning scar on his forehead. He finally found out how his parents were murdered, and had felt relief when he read that no one had seen a trace of him in nearly ten years.

Harry found himself wondering what his parents were like, to have sacrificed themselves for their child. They had been not even twenty-four, they had died so young. He read that they were sold out by one of their closest friends, Sirius Black, to Voldemort. Black was part of an ancient pureblood house, and that had been enough evidence for most people to believe he did it.

Harry had been confused on what ‘pureblood’ meant, and after a little digging found out that some wizards thought muggleborns and halfbloods below them. Harry himself was a halfblood like he’d told Zabini and MacDougal, and hoped they weren’t ‘blood-purists’.

  
Instead of practicing spells, Harry focused on the coursework books he’d bought. He started with the books that seemed the longest to him, hoping to have more time with the books with more information. _Magical Draughts and Potions_ by Aresenius Jigger was, frankly, confusing. The book was long and covered so many topics that Harry wondered if the staff really expected eleven-year olds to read it. He took about a week to finish the textbook, and the only thing about it he enjoyed was the specificity of it, how potions was a delicate discipline, and there were so many causes and reactions to different substances.

 _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_ by Quentin Thimble seemed like a highly biased look at the Dark and Light sides of magic. It heavily focused on the idea that Dark magic was dangerous, and although it never clearly said it, evil. The author portrayed Light magic as good and safe. Harry wasn’t sure if the book was the right source of information. Hogwarts had to have a library with more books right?

One of the most important books he had, The _Standard Book of Spells, Year One_ by Miranda Goshawk was thick and heavy. But the book included all the right wand movements and reasons why spells worked, so Harry really liked the book. It was similar to _Magical Theory_ by Adalbert Waffling, as it also explained how spells worked.

 _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ by Phyllida Spore for Herbology wasn’t quite as lengthy as the other books, but explained in detail the types of magical plants in the world. There were sections on where certain types could be found, what plants could be used for what, and what to look out for. He enjoyed his specific the text was and how it included diagrams of the plants.

The book used for the classes Care of Magical Creatures (an elective he could take in his third year) and creature-related Defense Against the Dark Arts subjects was named _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,_ by Newt Scamander, a Hufflepuff. This only proved his theory that House stereotypes weren’t always true, Scamander had been a Hufflepuff but was also a Magizoologist, which Harry learned was a wizarding zoologist, which needed a lot of NEWTS to do. He had learned about NEWTS and OWLS in _Hogwarts, A History_.

Selene somehow managed to stay quiet the entire month and a half. The kitten grew bigger but not so much, and Harry didn’t really know why. Maybe she was just supposed to be this small? Despite his abundance of books on magic, he had absolutely nothing on kittens. There was a chapter in _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ on this wizarding animal called a kneazle that was supposed to be similar to a cat, but weren’t the same species. But the kneazles were supposed to be rather small, so maybe Selene was part kneazle...

Harry had also found out that the house-elves at Hogwarts would take care of Selene’s feeding, grooming, and health checkups. He was grateful that he wouldn’t have to worry too much about her.

The books were very helpful towards Harry, but he decided to try and ask Zabini if he knew any other books about these Ancient Houses? The books barely said anything about them, and he had told Vagor he would come back when he had learned more about the wizarding world, which included these Houses. Being part of the House of Potter was a good motivator to learn more about magic too.

The last week Harry had with the Dursley’s Vernon’s temper continued to sour. He spent his time at home either drinking a bottle of beer or throwing more chores at him. Punches and slaps had begun to rise too, and even Dudley noticed it, staying in his room whenever he could before Vernon could yell more drunken words at Harry and his mother.

”Go.” Petunia sighed. She took the plate from Harry’s hands and continued where he’d left off. ”He’s already in a foul mood, you here won’t do any good.” Harry nodded and hurried to the cupboard, ready to start _A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration._

”Where’s the boy goin.” Vernon slurred as he stood up. Petunia put down the plate.

”He’s going to his cupboard, it’s past ten already-” 

”He should be doing more around here, such an ungrateful brat.” Vernon took another swig from his bottle.

”He’s done enough for today, he’ll do more tomorrow.” Petunia said dully.  
  
”Been so long since I gave him a good beating...” Harry froze. Petunia stopped scrubbing and turned around to face Vernon.

”I need him tomorrow Vernon. Grace Dunmore is coming over on Wednesday and I want him to do the garden.” Petunia stood with her hands on her hips, her hands shaking so slightly that no one noticed it.

”Mm, it’ll only take a minute, just wanna punch him a bit, maybe whack him my bottle.” Vernon’s eyes were glazed, but he began to walk closer to Harry. 

” _Vernon,_ I just said-”

”I am your husband, you don’t order me around bitch!” Vernon turned on her. Harry’s eyes widened, and in a moment of terror for his aunt, he pushed over the tacky flowered vase from one of Petunia’s church friends. Vernon whirled back to Harry and backhanded him heavily.

” _Freak!”_ He growled, and Harry fell to the ground, bruise beginning to swell.

”Vernon!” Aunt Petunia gasped.

 _Since when had she cared about my safety?_ Harry wondered dimly from where he blinked dazedly from the ground.

”Fucking devil child, should’ve starved you years ago, choked your little neck-” Vernon threw down his bottle at Harry, who feebly tried to dodge it. A shard of glass stuck out of Harry’s forearm as he clenched the attached elbow tightly, small scratches from the smaller shards littering his arm. Harry felt tears slip out of his eyes from the pain of the alcohol seeping into the wound.

” _Vernon!”_ Petunia hissed. Vernon swung to her, ready to slap her too, but she looked at him with pure murder in her eyes.

”The boy is going away to school in less than a week, do you really think that will heal up by then?” She gestured angrily to Harry’s profusely bleeding arm. ”If he shows up with a bandaged arm, there will be questions, and even if Harry _knows_ not to tell anyone,” Petunia shot him a look. ”It is likely someone will come to check on his home life. Eleven-year old boys do not just end up with glass in their arms!”

”Petu-”

” _No,_ because of your recklessness, we could be involved with that bloody world! I don’t fancy any wizards coming to our home, especially with Dudley here!” Petunia glared at him. Vernon has dropped his hands and was swaying slightly.

”’M sorry, Pet...” He mumbled sadly. Harry rolled his eyes at the drunken display despite his _still_ bleeding arm, this was why he never wanted to drink when he got older, people got angry and did stupid crap.

”You will go upstairs, and go to bed. You will not talk to Dudley until I say you can and are no longer a bumbling _idiot._ I will take Harry to the hospital, I will tell them that he knocked over a bottle and that the glass punctured his arm. I will pay for it. You will not beat Harry. There is a good chance the bruises’ll still be yellow by the time he leaves. I will give him work, and you will _leave him alone._ ” Petunia practically snarled. Vernon had grown steadily more and more terrified by the sound of her voice, and had nodded frantically before stumbling up the stairs.

”I’m sorry, Harry. We will go get that stitched up now.” Aunt Petunia sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

”Okay.” Harry said quietly. Aunt Petunia went up the stairs, presumably to tell Dudley to go to sleep, and came back with her wallet. Harry pushed himself up on his own, cradling his arm.

”Ah, I’m sorry, I forgot.” Petunia said, like it was a normal thing to forget there was a bloody glass shard sticking out of a child’s arm. She retrieved an old towel from the kitchen and wrapped it around Harry’s arm, careful not to dislodge the glass.

”Just hold it up, like that, yes, and don’t move it until we reach the emergency room. Don’t take it out, it’ll only make it bleed worse.” Petunia criticized him. 

Well, at least it wasn’t his writing arm.

  
The hospital had been bright and smelled like cleaning supplies, which Harry supposed at least meant it was clean. The nurse had been alarmed to see the glass sticking out of his arm and had put him ahead of the patients with sprained ankles and weird rashes they thought were some rare disease. The doctor had injected his hand with lidocaine and pulled out the shard slowly, which made Aunt Petunia gag and turn around.

”Tell me again how a beer bottle shard ended up in his arm?” The doctor raised a stern eyebrow at Aunt Petunia.

”Harry knocked over one of the bottles on the counter, and he slipped and pushed the shard in accidentally.” She lied smoothly. The doctor seemed skeptical but let it go for stitching Harry’s arm back together. Harry felt his stomach turn as he watched the needle and thread slip in and out of his skin. The doctor had given him a thin, disposable cast that wasn’t used to keep his arm straight, but to protect the stitches. She swabbed his smaller cuts with antiseptic before putting band aids over some of the still-bleeding ones.

”Next time, don’t leave alcohol and glass where eleven-year olds can get to it.” The doctor gave Petunia a harsh look. 

”Of course, doctor, it won’t happen again.” She nodded, and the doctor, finally satisfied, was ready to release them after Aunt Petunia assured him that they would return on Friday to take out the stitches and replace it with gauze and thick bandage.

”Don’t put pressure on it, and don’t play too much at school.” The doctor warned him. _Crap, Hogwarts._ Petunia remembered.

”Ah, my nephew is going to a boarding school on Monday, what would he do there?” Petunia asked him.

”Well, same rules apply, no pressure on it, no rough-housing, and- oh, I should send a notice shouldn’t I.” The doctor contemplated.

”No no, I can give them the letter.” Petunia shook her head.

”Alright then, I’ll write a letter informing them of the incident and how to deal with it. I assume they have a competent physician?” 

”Yes, they do.” The doctor grabbed paper from his briefcase and began scribbling on it with a pen, as Harry absentmindedly scratched at the stitches.

”This should do. He should be fine enough in a week, but don’t take the bandage off for two weeks. The skin is beginning to heal, and the stitches should be okay to take out on Friday.” The doctor handed Aunt Petunia the paper and she looked it over carefully.

”This is good, thank you.” Aunt Petunia nodded at the doctor. ”We’ll be back on Friday.” The doctor checked Harry’s stitches one last time before rushing out to help another patient.

As always, Harry and Aunt Petunia were quiet, and the car ride home was silent. Aunt Petunia pulled up to Number Four and parked the car in the driveway. She breathed out a sigh, before turning around to Harry, much like how she did on the day they visited Diagon Alley.

”You don’t tell anyone what happened tonight Harry. You tell them you were clumsy, knocked over a bottle, and fell on the glass. You got stitches, and you will get them out on Saturday. On Monday you leave, and you will wear whatever bandage they give you until it’s but a scar. Do you understand me, Harry?” Petunia looked at him with a strict face, but a bit of the fear at how close she’d come to getting hit by Vernon creeped through.

”Yes Aunt Petunia.” Harry nodded. A sigh escaped his aunt.

”Good. No work tomorrow, go to library or whatever it is you do. I don’t trust Vernon around you after he was just so violent. On Wednesday, you’ll help prepare meals. After you get those stitches out on Friday, you will stay in your cupboard for the day. Saturday and Sunday you will do light cleaning. Monday, we will leave at ten.” Aunt Petunia looked at him for confirmation.

”Yes, Aunt Petunia.” Harry repeated. She nodded at him before turning back and getting out of the car. Harry got out of his seat and followed her into the house, but not before they both saw Mrs. Figg staring at them from her window.

”Nosy old bat.” Aunt Petunia muttered. She shut the door and locked it tightly before ushering Harry into the cupboard. 

”Sleep carefully tonight, or you’ll take out the stitches.” Aunt Petunia ordered him. Harry gently sat down on his small mattress.

”I’ll be good, Aunt Petunia.” Harry said quietly, eyes on the floor. Aunt Petunia inhaled before shutting the door and walking up the stairs.

Harry sighed and cautiously moved his side, moving his left arm so the cast would be away from him, and the stitches facing up. He pulled the small pillow underneath his head and laid himself down, feeling himself relax. Uncle Vernon had never made him bleed like that before. Bruises and sore bones, those were his specialty. He’d never needed a hospital before, and he hoped with his absence from Privet Drive for most of the year would lighten the hate aimed at him from Uncle Vernon.

Sighing, Harry decided to focus on the positive; Hogwarts was next week, and now he would have even less chores to do in his remaining time with the Dursleys. He really didn’t want to go to Hogwarts with a huge bandage on his arm. He hoped it didn’t interfere with any of the lessons there. With the promising times in mind, Harry let himself fall asleep.

Harry felt queasy again as the gloved nurse pulled the thread out of Harry’s arm. Aunt Petunia was turned away again, head in her hands as she tried not to gag. The nurse finally finished pulling it out and quickly wiped his arm with an antiseptic wipe. The area was red and the skin there was raised, and blood was slowly leaking from where one of the stitches had been pulled a little too hard. Luckily, the lidocaine made his arm numb and he barely felt a thing.

”Is the bandage and gauze really necessary? Now that I’m seeing it, it looks like it just needs a large band-aid.” Aunt Petunia commented when the nurse placed a pad of gauze on top of the area and had begun to wrap a tan bandage around it.

”Well, the bandage and gauze aren’t mandatory, but it helps keep the wound closed for now. We like to take the stitches out at quickly as possible, as the longer they stay in the bigger the chance of infection. The stitches are no longer needed to keep the wound closed, but any disturbance could reopen the cut.” The nurse informed her.

”Well, if it’s what’s safest.” Aunt Petunia sniffed. 

”Remember, change the gauze daily, and ask your school’s doctor when they think it’s ready to be left open.” The nurse pinned the bandage and stepped away from the hospital bed, motioning to him that he could get off.

”Thank you very much, have a nice weekend.” Aunt Petunia said hurriedly. She wanted to get away from the god-awful hospital, last time she had not seen too many bloody patients, but today there was some sort of accident that brought in a woman missing her arm and a child with a slash across it’s torso. She had almost thrown up right then and there, and resolved to get out as quickly as possible.

They left right after, and once Harry had done the short list of chores Aunt Petunia had given him, he gone to the library to hopefully see Akela. She often wasn’t at the library during the weekends, but she said that would try to be there as much as possible. Her mum was always working, so Harry usually couldn’t go over to her house or let Akela come to his, so the library was their meeting spot.

Harry smiled to Mrs. Yoakum before disappearing into the rows of books. He looked through the rows of books before reverting back to his favorite book; _The Giver_ , by Lois Lowry. The book had been his favorite ever since he’d started reading book without pictures. The way the community controlled people’s differences kind of felt like how the Dursley’s hated how he was, quiet and different.

He’d always wanted to discover something that changed his life just like Jonas did when he discovered color, weather, and love, and Harry had discovered magic. He had his own adventure to go on.

 _Wow that sounded really cheesy._   
  
Harry waited about half an hour before Akela finally entered the library. He smiled at her and waved her over.

”Hey Harry. How did taking the stitches out go?” Akela sat down, her voice a little tight.

”Okay. It was still weird watching it.” Harry shrugged, picking at his nails. ”How’s your mom?”

”She’s okay, but-” Akela bit her lip. ”She wants me to come with her to the museum this weekend, she wants me to help with the set up for the new exhibit, but I _told_ her this was your last weekend, but she said she needed help anyways.” Akela fumed. ”I’m so sorry, I really wanted to spend this weekend with you.”

”Don’t worry Akela, it’s okay it’s not your fault. Besides, I can just relax this weekend anyways. I am worried about my new school, so I can just read my books.” Harry smiled at her. He hated seeing Akela angry or sad, she was his only friend and he wanted her to be happy.   
  
”I’m so sorry.” Akela apologized again.

”Like I said, don’t worry about it. Do you wanna go down to the river then today? it’s something different.” Harry suggested.

”Fine, but only if we can pick those wildflowers again. My mom always sneezes around those, so I’ll leave a huge bunch in the kitchen.” Akela said cheerfully.

”...I’m really glad you’ve never hated me.” Akela beamed.

Harry returned to the Privet Drive with a few Black-eyed Susans, a couple of white daises, and a bright orange poppy. He could hear Aunt Petunia’s vacuuming upstairs, and he slipped inside unnoticed. Dudley was out probably terrorizing second-graders again with Polkiss and their gang, and Uncle Vernon was at work, so he had a little more freedom than he usually did.

He shut the door to his cupboard quietly and laid the flowers down neatly, careful not to crush them. Selene meowed quietly from her cage in the corner and he smiled before leaning over to unlock it.

”I’m here, you can come out now.” He assured her. Selene padded over to his lap and made herself comfortable. He smiled and returned his attention to the flowers.

From his Hogwarts trunk, he grabbed his _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ textbook, laying it down in front of him. Opening the book maybe thirty pages in, he grabbed the daises and put them on the left papers, all straight and neat. He took more of the pages and turned the them so the flowers were smashed. He grabbed the Black-eyed Susans and put them down carefully next, and repeated the steps with the poppys.

When he completed the process the flowers were all smashed in between his herbology textbook’s pages. He figured that using a plant book to dry flowers was poetic, and that since they would be in greenhouses during Herbology, he wouldn’t need the book for at least a little while. ( _Hogwarts, A History_ giving him more information every day.)

He closed the book and set it deep in his trunk where it would move the most. He left the rest of his books stacked around the herbology textbook, locking it from moving. He folded his Hogwarts clothes that he wasn’t going to wear on the train neatly and left them on top of his textbooks. 

Harry didn’t do it often, but sometimes he liked to press flowers. The scent they released after the seven day waiting period was amazing, and he kept a few that reminded him of important things.

In the small notebook from third grade he had an Easter lily from when Aunt Petunia had a bouquet of flowers for her birthday from some friends. She stuck them in a vase and didn’t think about them until it was time for them to be thrown out, which gave Harry time to take a short one, cut off most of the stem with scissors, and press it in his book. A couple weeks beforehand he’d been digging through the attic and found the letter with his mother’s name on it, and wanted a small reminder of her with him, so he took the lily.

He had four yellow plumeria flowers for Akela in the same notebook. The flowers were a bright yellow in the middle, and expanded into white at the tips of the petals. Plumeria trees weren’t a common plant in Britain, but Akela’s mother had brought their potted plant from Hawai’i and planted it in their backyard. Akela snuck Harry in one time in fifth grade, and with Akela’s permission he picked four of the yellow flowers. They were symbolic of Akela and her heritage from Hawai’i, so in the book they went.

The other flowers inside the notebook were just ones that he found beautiful, rare, or they smelled nice. There was a cluster of purple, pink, and blue hydrangeas smushed together, and a pale purple poppy (he’d never seen a purple one before.) Harry decided to take his flower book with him and hid it in one of his smaller compartments for hidden objects.

” _Harry, come help with the laundry!”_ Aunt Petunia’s shrill voice called.

”Coming!” Harry called back. He sighed and closed his trunk, the bronze lockings snapping shut with a click. He left the cupboard to go help Aunt Petunia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the medical treatment was all me using vague and unreliable background knowledge so don’t take that too seriously my dudes
> 
> the giver actually came out two years after here but i wanted harry to identify with the book so
> 
> also i started another harry potter fic and if y’all have the time i’d be grateful for y’all to try it out, it’s one of those time-travel fics where harry gets sent back to tom riddle’s years at hogwarts, i’ve kinda been on a roll with those lol
> 
> EDIT (7/4/20) sorry i meant to write about harry finding out he’s famous in this chapter but forgot, so i wrote it in today, my bad


	5. five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> harry finally leaves for hogwarts, makes some different friends this time around, and the train ride is a eventful.
> 
> there’s also a slight bit more of me forcing hawaiian/maori/filipino/other islands culture into this fic lmao

Harry had his trunk packed and locked before Aunt Petunia even walked down the stairs. He had Selene inside her cage and had fed her and taken her out (they didn’t have a litter box for her) already too. Inside his messenger bag was his wand, an apple he’d nicked the day before, his Charms textbook, and one of the extra books from Flourish and Blotts called _Spells You’ll Most Likely Need At One Point In Your Life_. He wanted to practice before school, and the train was the only place to do so.

”Are you packed and ready to leave?” Aunt Petunia asked him when he came out to help with breakfast.

”Everything’s either in my trunk or my bag, and Selene’s in her cage.” Harry confirmed, pushing his glasses up his nose a bit.

”Good. The train station is about half an hour’s ride, so we leave at ten. The Hogwarts train leaves at exactly eleven o’clock, and when we get there I will leave as soon as you are allowed to board. You put away your luggage in the train’s lower compartments on the ride, I have no idea what you’re expected to do with it once you’re there, ask a classmate.” Aunt Petunia rambled almost nervously.

”Yes, Aunt Petunia.” Harry answered.

”Good.” Aunt Petunia nodded. She returned her attention to the waffle iron and Harry started on the bacon. (Always bacon, good lord.)

Uncle Vernon stumbled in after a while, shot a glare at Harry, and dropped down on his chair with the newspaper. He grunted when Aunt Petunia slid a plate with two waffles instead of three and less bacon than he was used to in front of him.

”Vernon, you know your cholesterol’s too high. Besides, it’ll be good for you to get back in shape. You’re not getting any younger.” Aunt Petunia admonished him. Despite Aunt Petunia’s anger at Uncle Vernon the night Harry got his stitches, the woman had gone right back to caring for Uncle Vernon’s every whim. It made something in Harry flatten, and he wondered why he’d ever thought Aunt Petunia might care for him. 

She was only doing it to get him out of the house, he knew that.

Then why did it hurt?

Dudley came down ranting about the homework he’d gotten on his first week back to school, and had left with Uncle Vernon who gave him a ride. Aunt Petunia and Harry did the dishes before Aunt Petunia finally sent him to put his school uniform on.

Harry excitedly pulled on his uniform shirt in the cupboard, the white button down smooth against his skin, and the trousers fitting right for once. He pulled the sweater on over his shirt and quickly laced up his shoes. The sleeves of his shirt and sweater covered his bandage-cast hybrid, but still showed a lump where the bandage was. Harry had been ready to take it off before, but the misshapen image the bandage produced reinforced his want for it.

He didn’t really want to wear the dress shoe-like shoes all the time, so he’d packed his trainers and other comfortable Muggle clothes in his trunk. He left his cloak in his bag, figuring that he couldn’t exactly walk around the train station wearing a cloak. Speaking of wizarding attire, how did the Hogwarts train hide all the magic that probably went around? Did they just let Muggles see the owls and toads in cages? 

He had _so_ much to learn, and that was probably his favorite thing about magic.

Harry was just about to haul his trunk out of the cupboard when he saw the green beanie from Ollivander lying underneath his pillow. His scar was recognizable and marked him as Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. It would probably get out eventually at Hogwarts, but why let everyone know who he was on the train? He’d only had one friend before, and despite him aching for more friends, he didn’t want any friends who were just there for his fame. Without another thought, he put the beanie on and smushed down his curls.

”Right then, let’s go.” Aunt Petunia said impatiently. She opened the door and waited for Harry to come out before locking it and getting in the car. Harry rolled his trunk to the backseat and forced it through to Aunt Petunia’s squawk of ”Watch it boy, don’t rip the seats!” Selene’s cage was rested on his lap once he sat down, and he took the time to pet her.

As always, their car ride was quiet and Harry watched the building increasingly get taller and taller as they moved further into the city. His anxiety and excitement grew as they drove on, and Harry had fallen back on his habit of tapping one of his hand’s fingers on his leg to distract himself.

When they approached King’s Cross Harry felt his heart start pounding, and he clutched the strap of his messenger bag. He took a deep breath and waited for Aunt Petunia to park before unbuckling his seat belt and grabbing his trunk. He pulled it out of the car to round two of Aunt Petunia’s screeching ”The _seats,_ boy, be gentle!” He held Selene’s cage close to his chest and tried not to jostle her. 

”Aunt Petunia, I’m sorry, but would you please...?” Harry gestured shyly to Selene’s cage when he couldn’t balance her and his trunk and his bag. He could carry his bag on his shoulder, and carry his trunk with his arms in front of him, but it was a lot of weight and balancing the cage in the trunk was hard. The trunk also pressed against his bandage and he felt a stab of pain whenever he put more pressure there. Aunt Petunia sighed and cautiously picked up Selene’s cage as if she were afraid the cat would scratch her. Harry slung his bag over his shoulder and held his trunk by the handles in front of him in a way that locked his arms. Harry followed her to the station, his arms growing a little sore.

They walked past platforms until they came to Platform Nine. Aunt Petunia turned to Harry and sighed, the same noise she made every time she had to explain something magic to him.

”The Hogwarts Express is hidden by magic, and can only be accessed by getting to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.” Harry looked around for the platform, but only found the one they were on and Platform Ten. ”It’s hidden by magic, do you really think you’d see it? No, we have to walk through that wall over there.” Aunt Petunia pointed to a brick wall in the middle of the platform.

”There?” Harry asked hesitantly.

”Yes. Just follow me, and don’t think about it too much.” Aunt Petunia walked up to the wall, her heels clicking with every step. Harry readjusted his hold on his trunk and watched his aunt walk straight through the wall with Selene in her arms. Harry gasped and looked around, trying to see if anyone had seen her. When he saw that no one had noticed a woman walk through a wall, he steeled himself and walked through.

When he came out the other side his eyes widened at the sight of a large red train and a bustling Platform. Aunt Petunia stood a couple feet in front of him and gestured for him to come closer.

”It’s about ten-forty now, so they should start boarding any minute. I will help you with you trunk, but your bag and Selene will stay with you on the train. They are _your_ responsibility, and I don’t want any letters home about you losing your belongings. While we’re talking about letters home, don’t you _dare_ misbehave at school. Vernon will not welcome any mention of you. I will send you a letter in June about how you will come home.”

”Yes, Aunt Petunia.” Harry said obediently, putting his trunk down. Aunt Petunia pursed her lips.

”Stay out of trouble... do well in your studies, and try to make some friends. It’ll make the years and your transition into their world easier.” She ordered.

”Yes, Aunt Petunia. I won’t cause trouble.” Harry said firmly. He didn’t want to mess up the one chance he had at getting away from the Dursleys.

”Good.” Aunt Petunia dug out a small purse-like bag from her coat. ”A couple weeks ago I wrote to Gringotts requesting some money for you for school. I don’t know if they have any extra expenses there, but the bank worker who wrote back to me said that this will be enough for your year.” Aunt Petunia handed him the small bag, coins jingling. Harry took it eagerly and opened it slightly to try and get a look at the money inside.

”Thank you so much Aunt Petunia.” Harry said breathlessly. Aunt Petunia’s face turned a little pink.

”Yes, well, I don’t want you bothering us about money, and-” 

” _Boarding starts now! All trunks in the compartments, pets and smaller bags will be kept on the train-”_

”Well then, time for you to get on.” Aunt Petunia stammered. ”You’ll be alright?” Harry picked his trunk back up. 

”Yeah, I’ll see you in June.” He gave her a small smile. She left Selene on the floor before nodding jerkily and turning on her heel to leave. He watched her disappear behind the barrier, Selene meowing from the floor.

”I know.” Harry sighed. ”Just let me put away my trunk, I’ll be right back.” Harry walked over to where older students were helping the younger ones put their luggage in the train’s lower compartments. 

”Just give it here, I’ll bring it up.” One of the students grunted from where he was standing on one of the ledge sticking out from the train. Harry pushed up his trunk as much as he could and was relieved when the older student took it from him.

”Got some heft to it, don’t it?” The boy said, pushing it inside. ”You like your books?”

”Yeah.” Harry said softly.

”Thats good, don’t ever stop learning.” He grinned and held out a hand. ”Gabriel Truman, and don’t bother with the last name crap, call me Gabriel. I’m one of the new Hufflepuff prefects.” Harry smiled and shook his hand.

”I’m Harry.” He introduced himself, leaving out the ‘Potter’.

”Well Harry, good luck at Hogwarts.” Harry waved goodbye as Gabriel took another trunk and went to go pick up Selene. Thankfully he didn’t need to go too far away from her and Selene was alright. 

”Hey baby, how you doing?” Harry cooed, fitting his hand through. She licked his finger and decided to nibble on it, using her paws to keep his finger there.

”Alright then.” He chuckled. Harry saw the students slowly beginning to trickle in to the train, most of them still with their parents or putting away their trunks. Harry squeezed through the crowd to try and get in. Selene contentedly kept on chewing his finger, and Harry finally got to the train’s door. Pulling his bag closer to him, Harry wedged Selene’s bulky cage through the door and finally boarded the train. 

He walked the hallways ( _Were the hallway-like corridors of a train actually called hallways?)_ quickly, passing a few slightly full compartments until he found one with a boy holding a toad in a cage. He looked nervous, and Harry decided a nervous student was unlikely to make fun of him

 _”Making a few friends on the train would be nice.”_ Harry thought.

”Hey, mind if I join you?” Harry asked, poking his head in. The boy looked and shook his head.

”N-no.” He stuttered. Harry beamed and sat down on the seat opposite to him, setting Selene’s cage down

”I’m Harry.” He told the boy and held out a hand. The slightly pudgy boy looked at his hand and shook it, his grip light.

”Neville, Neville Longbottom. I-I don’t care about using my last n-name though, Neville’s fine.” The boy said. They let go and Harry turned to the cage beside him.

”Alright then Neville, you mind if I let Selene out? She’s really calm and she’s been in there for a while now.” Harry asked Neville.

”N-no, it’s okay.” Harry beamed again and unlocked the cage. ”Aww, come here.” Selene ambled over his legs into his lap and laid her head against his chest.

”Nice cat.” Neville said, watching Selene lick herself slowly.

”Thanks. I’m thinking she might be part kneazle though, I’m not sure.” Harry stroked her head. ”She’s been real quiet ever since I got her, hasn’t bothered me one bit. You’ve got a cool toad. I like the eyes.” The toad in question had glossy pale green eyes and blinked slowly. (It reminded Harry of the lily pads at the pond back where he and Akela would pick wildflowers.)

”Really?” Neville said doubtfully. ”Everyone keeps telling me Trevor’s ugly and slimy.”

”I mean, he’s a toad, so what do they expect.” Neville snorted. ”But if you like him, then don’t care what anyone else says. They make you happy and you take care of them, that’s all that matters.” Harry smiled at Selene.

”I suppose, yeah.” They sat in quiet as the train began to fill up. Harry pulled his Charms textbook out from his backpack and began memorizing the wand movements and incantations. Around them, kids were conversing loudly and somehow ended up causing a lot of flashes and bangs, which were startling poor Neville. The other students left their compartment alone, which led to Neville relaxing slightly and pulling out a book of his own, titled _Rare Vegetation of The World: Pacific Islander Edition._

”Prewett!” Harry turned his head to the doorway to see Zabini standing there, panting slightly.

”What?” 

”Prewett! Is your surname ‘Prewett’?” Zabini helpfully elaborated.

”No, but good guess.” Harry grinned.

”I can’t think of anyone else, it makes sense for you because the Prewett twins were purebloods and both were killed in the war, and one of them, Fabian, had been rumored to be dating a Muggleborn, so it makes sense! And literally every other pureblood is either alive, died too early to have birthed you, would most certainly _not_ date a Muggleborn, or are in Azkaban!” Zabini ranted. Neville looked quite frightened at the show in front of him.

”Neville, this is Zabini, I met him at Flourish and Blotts.” Harry introduced the two for Neville’s sake. Zabini whipped his head to Neville.

”Neville, you Neville Longbottom? Augusta’s grandson?” Neville nodded with wide eyes. ”Thought I recognized you. And just call me Blaise, Harry, I’m calling you your first name. You too Neville, if that’s alright with you.”

”It’s fine.” Neville squeaked. Blaise sat himself down next to Harry.

”So, how was the book?” He asked.

”It was pretty good, thanks for recommending it. You wouldn’t happen to know any books on, like, pureblood stuff, would you? None of my books explained it very well.”

”Oh sure, I have a lot. My mother doesn’t care too much about blood-purity, but she wanted me to know for the other purebloods who _do_ care, like the Malfoys and the Parkinsons. I am pureblood, by the way.” Blaise turned to Neville. ”You are too, right?”

”Y-yes. Grandmother gave me a bunch of lessons on p-pureblood etiquette. She doesn’t care too much who I hang out with, but wants me to know it anyways, says it’s my heritage.” Neville said softly. The boy looked a bit overwhelmed and confused with Blaise’s entrance.

”Same with my mother. If your father was pureblood, then _The Pure-Blood Directory_ might have your family tree in it.” Blaise informed him.

”Thanks, I wanted to know more before I went back to Gringotts.” Harry said.

”Gringotts? The goblins don’t care about blood-purity, why would you need to know about it for Gringotts _?”_ Blaise asked.

”I don’t really need it so much for my accounts, but I wanted to learn as much as I could about magic before I did anything with my vaults.” Harry confessed.

”Wait, if your dad was pureblood, then why do you need to learn about magic?” Neville interjected, looking nervously at both of them, as if they would make fun of him for asking a question.

”My mum and dad were magic, but they died, and there was no one left on my dad’s side to take care of me. My mum was a Muggleborn and had a Muggle sister who took me in.” Harry explained. 

”Yeah, and they did a great job it too.” Blaise snorted sarcastically. ”They didn’t even bother to tell him about magic!”

”It’s fine, I mean I’m still going to Hogwarts aren’t I? I’m just like any other Muggleborn, and they do great.” Harry said.

”Hmph. Are you going to tell me your surname anyways?” Blaise crossed his arms, slightly salty that he hadn’t guessed Harry’s last name.

”You’ll find out when we get Sorted, don’t worry about it.” Harry grinned impishly. ”And I’d like my galleons if you don’t mind.”

”Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Blaise grumbled, taking out a wallet from his robes.

”We made a bet that if he could guess my last name then I’d give him ten galleons, but if he couldn’t, he owed _me_ ten galleons.” Harry explained to Neville, pocketing his newly acquired galleons. Blaise noticed Neville’s frightened look directed at him and groaned.

”Oh honestly, I’m not going to make fun of you or something, I’m just here to talk to Harry.” Blaise rolled his eyes.

”O-okay.” Neville looked just as terrified. Harry noticed that Trevor in his cage seemed to be looking at the doorway, and jumped against the cage, startling Neville. He dropped the cage, and it miraculously landed on the latch, which sprung open and popped the cage wide open.

”Trevor!” Neville cried out. The frog leaped out of the cage, away from him and out of the door.

”I’ll help you find him.” Harry told Neville. Neville ran after his pet and Blaise stared doubtfully after him.

”I am _not_ chasing that frog.” Blaise said.

”Toad.” Harry corrected. ”Suit yourself, I’ll see you later.” Blaise waved flippantly at him, and Harry followed Neville into the train’s hallways. He could hear the faint croaking coming from one of the compartments, and apparently Neville did too, because he beelined for the room. Upon looking into the compartment, the boy made a small noise and stood back. Harry gave him a questioning look, and Neville simply flushed. When Harry got closer, he saw that the compartment was full of girls, rather pretty ones too.

”Oh just let me.” Harry sighed. ”Sorry, but, have any of you seen a toad come by?” Harry poked his head in, Neville trying to see over him. ”My friend lost his pet.”

”I thought I heard something weird like less than a minute ago.” One of the girls shrugged.

”You lost a pet already?” Another girl tried to smother a laugh. Neville shrunk back, cheeks aflame. 

”I can try Summon him for you.” The same girl offered.

”Sure.” Harry looked at Neville and shrugged. The girl pulled out a wand and pushed her long black hair back.

”What’s the toad’s name?” She asked.

”T-Trevor.” Neville stuttered.

” _Accio Trevor._ ” The girl swished her wand. A _splat_ was heard, and Neville gasped.

”Trevor!” Neville picked him up gingerly, the poor toad had been smashed into the door.

”Oh, I’m so sorry, I forgot about the door.” She apologized.

”It’s okay, don’t worry about it.” Harry assured her. Harry turned to Neville who was tearfully holding his toad, the toad’s skin slightly swollen and it’s chest was moving kind of shakily.

” _Episkey!_ ” Harry tried. The swelling miraculously deflated a bit, and Trevor seemed to be breathing a bit easier.

”Wow! That’s a second year spell, we haven’t even been taught it yet!” The girl squinted at Harry. ”You’re not some really small third-year I haven’t noticed yet, are you?”

”Um, no, I’m a first year.” Harry rubbed his beanie slightly.

”Huh. Where’d you learn _Episkey_ then? It’s not in the first year’s charms book.”

”I bought a couple extra books, and one of them had a bunch of basics spells for healing and warming and stuff. I guessed it was good to know a few.” Harry admitted. The girl gave him an impressed look.

”I’m Chyou Chang, but everyone calls me Cho.” The girl introduced herself. ”All of us in here are second years and in Ravenclaw except for Sylvia over there who’s in Slytherin, and Aiyla who’s in Hufflepuff.” 

”Er, hi, I’m Harry, and this is Neville. We’re both first years.” Harry waved. Neville stepped outside slightly from behind Harry’s back and gave a weak wave.

”Cool. Good luck at the Sorting.” Cho grinned.

”Thanks, for helping us, see you later.” Harry said a bit awkwardly. He didn’t have much experience with other kids, being bullied by Dudley and not being able to go many places, so talking with an older girl was kind of weird for him.

”She was really pretty.” Neville said a little breathlessly. Harry looked at him.

”Oh come on, you’re eleven, don’t tell me you’ve already succumbed to the perils of young romance! You’re supposed to have time before being enraptured in the throes of love!” Harry said dramatically. Neville scowled and shoved him lightly. Harry laughed, grinning at the boy coming out of his shell a little bit.

”So, what do you like to d-” Harry crashed into a head, groaning at the throbbing the knock on his skull inflicted.

”Oh! I’m so sorry, excuse me-” A head of bushy dark brown hair faced down from them, picking up their bag. She brushed herself off and fixed her skirt, which seemed to be wet and a bit orange.

”Sorry, didn’t mean to-” She mumbled, pushing past them. Harry caught her arm gently, worried if she was okay.

”Miss, are you alright?” Harry called out to her. The girl sniffed and turned around.

”I’m fine, just spilled pumpkin juice on me.” She tucked her curly hair behind her head.

”Do you need help?” Harry asked gently.

”No, I just need to find the the bathroom.” The girl wiped at her eyes.

”I know where it is.” Neville piped up, blushing when the girl and Harry looked at him. ”My gran told me about the train loads of times, she really loved Hogwarts, so she gave me a map of the school, Hogsmeade, and the train in case I needed it. The bathroom is not too far away.” Neville started walking in the opposite direction of the way she was going, and Harry and the girl followed him.

”Just in here.” Neville showed her the doorway,

”T-thanks.” The girl blushed, before ducking inside and closing the door.

”What’s pumpkin juice?” Harry asked Neville after a moment of silence.

”It’s, it’s well, pumpkin juice. Juice that tastes like pumpkin.” Neville said slowly.

”Ew.” Harry wrinkled his nose. He always hated pumpkin pie. 

The girl came out of the bathroom a few minutes, her skirt and sweater much less wet.

”I’m Hermione, sorry about that.” A knobby hand waved shyly at them.

”I’m Neville, and that’s Harry.” Neville smiled. 

”If you don’t mind my asking, how come you were crying?” Harry asked softly.

”It- it’s stupid, really.” Hermione swiped at her red nose. ”I was sitting in this compartment with a couple of boys, and I was talking about the books I wanted to read in the library, and one of them knocked over their bottle with their elbow. The guy said sorry, but it didn’t look like an accident and they looked like they wanted to laugh.” Hermione’s face twisted.

”I’m sorry, they sound like pricks.” Harry said firmly.

”Harry!” Neville gasped.

 _Huh, looks like Akela rubbed off on me._ Harry thought.

”Well, if they dumped juice on a girl who just liked books, they are. Don’t think about it too much, Hermione, reading is great. I’ve actually got more books than clothes in my trunk.” Harry confessed.

”Me too!” Hermione gasped. ”My mum nearly made me leave some at home, but my dad said it was good to get as much reading as I can done. I’m a Muggleborn, and I don’t know all that much about magic.”

”I didn’t know about magic either until a month ago. My parents were magic, but they died and my aunt and uncle who are Muggles raised me.” Harry said.

”His new friend Zabini certainly has some strong opinions on it.” Neville snorted. 

”I think he’s just mad that I could’ve been raised with magic when I didn’t.” Harry shrugged. ”Anyways, we’ll do fine. I can lend you a couple of my books if you like?” Harry offered to Hermione.

”Really? Thanks! You’re welcome to borrow any of mine.” Hermione beamed.

Harry and Hermione blathered on about magic and the books they read while walking back to their compartment. Hermione didn’t really want to go to her old one, and Neville and Harry wouldn’t let her go back. Both hated bullies. Blaise had looked up when Hermione entered their small room, but had simply shook her hand and said ”Nice to meet you, Granger.” After Hermione had introduced herself.

Blaise sat next to Harry after Hermione saw Neville’s Herbology book and decided it was “... fascinating really, how we’ve never seen any of the wizarding plants...” Blaise and Harry were happy to pull out their own books and read silently while Neville opened up to Hermione over plants. Their little group was small, but they were content to bond over a mutual love of learning and books.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so if you’re moderately into the hp fandom (you consistently like tumblr posts or instagram posts or read fanfics about hp) then y’all probably know j.k. has gotten a lotta hate over how she stereotyped cho chang by giving her two last names for her full name so i decided hey, let’s give her an actual chinese name and make cho her nickname. chyou means sweet autumn in chinese and has the ch- sound in cho and also ends in an o-ou sound so yeah
> 
> if i take over a week to update feel free to yell at me about it because after a week is passed my motivation goes down and any comments y’all send me will help motivate me. i know some authors don’t like it but go ahead for me.


	6. six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> harry meets more people, is sad that wizarding children in fact do NOT have disney, and gets sorted.
> 
> there’s a lot of dialogue this chapter lol
> 
> THIS THE LONGEST CHAPTER I’VE WRITTEN PLEASE DON’T EXPECT ALL MY CHAPTERS TO BE QUITE AS LONG IN THE FUTURE I’M SORRY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would like to put it out there that i do indeed need a beta, anyone willing to please comment and also i have no idea how to share the chapter with you other than adding you as an author but i also have no idea how to do that
> 
> i’m an idiot sue me
> 
> I DIDN’T READ THIS THROUGH IT’S 2:28 AM AND I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ASLEEP TWO HOURS AGO READ IT WITH IT’S TYPOS I’M SORRY

The group of four had started a debate on whether Muggle inventions were helpful to wizards when an older red headed student wearing a badge with a shiny ‘P’ on it knocked on the door. ”Sorry, but we’re almost at the Hogsmeade Station, it’s time to put away your things and put on your uniforms.” He looked at their neat sweaters and pants (and skirt for Hermione.) ”Although I suppose you four have already got that done.

”Thanks, Percy.” Neville said.

”Hello Neville, nice to see you again. How’s your grandmother?” The student said kindly.

”She’s okay, been on me about getting into Gryffindor.” Neville said.

”Can’t blame her, it’s a great House and we’d be happy to have you. Good luck at the Sorting.” The prefect closed the doors.

”Who was that?” Harry asked.

”One of the new Gryffindor prefects, Percy Weasley. I know his family.” Neville said. ”He’s a bit uptight and cares about grades a lot. Most of his family don’t take it quite as seriously as him, so they’re kind of hard on him, but he’s a nice bloke.”

”I know the Weasleys, lot of uncivilized Gryffindor brutes they are.” Blaise grumbled.

”They’re not brutes, Charlie and Bill were even Head Boys.” Neville protested.

”Maybe the older two are alright, but Percival is way too high strung for a fifteen year old, the twins are menaces, and Ron is a pig. I haven’t met the girl, but growing up with six brothers is enough to have driven anyone a little bit mad.” Blaise said.

”Or it could’ve made her terrifying.” Harry pointed out. ”There was this girl at my old school, Angelica, she had four older brothers and she’s stronger than everyone in her year.”

”Maybe.” Blaise said dubiously. 

”The Weasleys aren’t that bad, the twins are actually really smart, to be able to pull off all their pranks. And Percy is just... okay yeah, he is high strung, but he’s not a bad person. Ginny’s great, could beat anyone in our year into a pulp.” Neville defended. ”Ron- actually, Ron is a bit of a prat, he gets jealous pretty easily, but in a family with five older siblings, can you blame him?”

”Can we discuss wizarding families later? We still have to get our trunks.” Hermione reminded them.

”Yeah, I want to see the castle.” Harry put in. With grumbles of consent the students grabbed their bags and respective pets before stepping outside the train to a crowd of black cloaks.

”All remaining pets and bags will be left here to be brought to the dorms! That includes you, first years, your pets and bags will be fine during the Sorting. Please find your trunks and leave your things with it, and we’ll give you all name tags to put on your things.” A prefect called out.

”When ‘yer done, first years come with me! We take the boats to Hogwarts.” A man who _had_ to be over seven feet shouted. All of their little group had bags, so they all walked over to the prefect first. Harry found his trunk in the back of the pile, and dragged it over to the girl spelling name tags onto student’s belongings.

”Name?”

”Er- Harry.”

”I need a last name.” The girl looked at him expectantly.

”... Potter. But please don’t say anything, I’d rather not get mobbed.” Harry said desperately as the girl’s eyebrows rose to his beanie.

”Sure. Can’t believe you don’t want to be known as the Boy-Who-Lived, but go off I guess.” The girl muttered. 

_What the hell did ‘go off I guess.’ mean?_

The girl waved her wand and a name tag reading H. Potter tied itself to the handle of Harry’s trunk, his backpack’s strap, and one of the bars of Selene’s cage.

”Bye, Selene, I’ll see you soon.” Harry whispered. He pet her through the bars one last time before going back to his friends. Neville and Hermione started talking about what the dorms would be like, and Harry turned them out for looking around at the students. Almost everyone had on their cloaks, and all of the older students were climbing onto carriages that seemed to be pulling themselves. Some of the students were holding things that looked a bit like food.

”Hey, where did they get candy?” Harry asked, bewildered. Blaise looked up from fiddling with his cloak’s clasps.

”Probably from the trolley.” Blaise said indifferently.

”The trolley?”

”Yeah, during the ride a witch with a trolley comes around and sells candy, I don’t remember her name but apparently she’s been doing it since our parents were here.” Blaise said. ”The trolley came by while you and Neville were out chasing that toad.”

”It’s where the boys in my compartment got their pumpkin juice.” Hermione said a bit stiffly. Harry rubbed her shoulder sympathetically.

”Oh yeah, I forgot about the trolley.” Neville said sadly. ”I wanted to get a chocolate frog.”

”Chocolate frog?” Harry raised his eyebrows.

”I keep forgetting how much you two don’t know about magic.” Neville said, an indignant “Hey!” coming from Hermione. ”Chocolate frogs are these, well, chocolate frogs bewitched to hop around and stuff. You have to eat them quickly or else you won’t catch them. They also come with these trading cards of famous wizards and witches for loads of stuff-”

”Like baseball cards?” Hermione cut in.

”I- I don’t know what those are.” 

”They’re cards with the statistics of baseball players you can trade, some of them are worth a lot. Baseball is a Muggle sport.” Hermione explained.

”Oh, then yeah, sure. Except chocolate frog cards have quidditch players, researchers, heroes, criminals, all types of people.”

”What’s quidditch?” Harry asked.

”Quidditch is a sport, there’s four balls flying around and everyone flies on brooms. I can explain it better to you later if you like.” Neville said.

”That sounds incredibly chaotic.” Harry commented.

”Believe me, it is.” Blaise grumbled. ”I don’t see why people like to play it, it can last for hours, and somebody almost always gets hurt.”

”You don’t like quidditch?” Harry said questioningly.

”No, I don’t see the point in flying around being hit by bloody Bludgers all the time.”

”Bludgers?”

”They’re these balls that fly at-“

”Come on, or you’ll all be late! All of the first year’s are getting on the boats, go find one before they leave with out you.” A prefect scolded them. Harry grabbed his backpack before following his friends to the boats. Harry, Neville, Blaise, and Hermione quickly took seats on a boat with two other kids.

”Alright everyone, my name’s ‘Agrid, I’m the groundskeeper ‘ere at Hogwarts. I’ll be taking you all across the lake. Please don’t try to agitate the squid, ‘e _does_ bite.” A large man warned from one of the boats at the front. He turned around and as if on cue, the boats slowly pushed forward. Yelps and a couple curses sounded as some of the students were startled. 

Harry looked at the lake, waters dark and calm. The sun was setting on the horizon to his left and pinks and oranges filled the sky. Harry wished he had a camera, it was a beautiful sight, especially with the boats on the water setting off small ripples on the otherwise still lake. A few times he thought he saw something move underneath them, and remembering Hagrid’s warning about the apparent squid, he leaned back.

”I’m Susan Bones, nice to meet all of you.” One of the first years on their boat said.

”I’m Harry.” Harry smiled Susan.

”I’m Hermione, Hermione Granger.” Hermione held out a hand, shaking Susan’s firmly when she took it.

”Zabini, Blaise Zabini.” Blaise scrutinized her face a bit. ”You really do look like your aunt.”

”Well, Aunt Amelia does have the same hair as me.” Susan fingered her mid-length brown waves.

”I’m Lisa Turpin. I really don’t care if you call me Lisa or Turpin, whatever you’re comfortable with.” The other girl with dark hair said softly.

”I’m N-Neville, Neville Longbottom.” Neville stuttered, his shyness showing up again.

”Hello, Neville. I’ve met your grandmother. A bit brazen, but a nice lady.” Susan smiled at him.

”Brazen, th-that’s Gran alright.” Neville huffed a laugh.

”What’s that thing on your head?” Lisa asked Harry.

”This? It’s a beanie, I guess it’s a Muggle hat. It’s supposed to keep your head warm, but I just like how it lets me not brush my hair.” Harry fibbed a bit.

”It’s a lovely color, especially with your eyes.” Lisa complimented him.

”Thanks, I like green a lot.” Harry thanked her.

”What’s that underneath your sleeve?” Susan frowned. Harry looked down to his ‘cast’.

”Oh, I fell and broke a vase. I had to get stitches, but they already got taken out. This is just for a little while.” Harry scrunched his sleeve up to show the bandage.

”Sticthes?” Hermione asked.

”Yeah, the glass cut in.” Harry said shortly. Aunt Petunia’s warning not to say anything ringed in his head.

”Well, I hope it gets better.” Lisa said.

”It barely even hurts.” Harry assured her.

”Any idea what you have to do to get Sorted?” Hermione asked. 

”Weasley, the youngest one, keeps going on about how his brothers told him we have to fight a troll.” Susan rolled her eyes.

”My cousin told me that we have to take a test.” Lisa said a bit nervously, tugging on her long dark hair.

”My mother showed me the Sorting in a pensieve memory, I can tell you guys what it is you don’t care about going in surprised.” Blaise offered.

”I don’t care much.” Neville shrugged. The rest of the students on the boats nodded their permission.

”There’s this hat, it’s enchanted to be able to look at all your memories and decides what House you belong to from that.” Blaise explained. ”But my mum said that the hat also takes environmental details in mind. Like for some pureblood kids, they could be Hufflepuff but their parents might just Crucio them if they join the Puffs, so the hat will put them in Slytherin if the student wishes.”

”What does ‘Crucio’ mean?” Hermione tilted her head.

”It’s an Unforgivable curse.” Lisa said quietly. ”There are only three, and any one them gets you a lifetime in Azkaban. The Crucio curse is the torture curse. Long-time exposure to it can cause brain damage, and for this spell, long-standing is more than two minutes.” Neville looked to be getting a bit queasy with the talk about it, so Harry changed the subject.

”Right, then, so we just put the hat on and it’ll tell you what House you’re in?” Harry asked.

”Basically yeah. It can talk, both physically and in your mind. In my mum’s memory, it just announces your House to the Hall, and then you go sit down. Simple as that.” Blaise said.

”It talks to you?” Hermione asked.

”Yeah, like telepathy.”

”I love magic.” Harry sighed.

”Muggleborn?” Lisa asked.

”No, but i was raised by them.” At Lisa and Susan’s confused looks he elaborated. ”My parents were both magic but they died when I was a baby, so I live with my mother’s Muggle sister and her family. She was a Muggleborn, if that wasn’t clear.”

”Oh, I’m so sorry.” Lisa apologized.

”Don’t be sorry, honestly, I don’t see why people keep apologizing to me. Did you kill my parents? If not, then you’ve got nothing to apologize for.” Harry said firmly.

”I am a Muggleborn, though.” Hermione said. ”It’s... interesting to say the least, discovering magic.”

”It sure explains how my teacher’s hair turned blue in the middle of class.” Harry joked.

”I think I Summoned a bunch of pumpkin pasties once.” Susan mused, running a hand through wavy brown hair.

”I barely had any accidental magic at all. My great-uncle was so paranoid about me being a Squib that he dropped me out a window to force it out of me. Luckily, I bounced right down the driveway, so I was fine. Great-Uncle Algie drank at least three bottles of firewhiskey in celebration.” Neville said.

”He dropped you out a _window?”_ Harry cried.

”Yeah, but it’s not a big deal, I’m fine. I probably would’ve just gone to St. Mungo’s if I weren’t.” Neville shrugged.

”People can’t just throw you out windows because they think you might not have magic!” Harry said, outraged.

”It’s fine, really. Loads of families do stuff like this. I’ve never heard of anyone else getting dropped out a window though before.” Neville said. 

”That really wasn’t okay, Neville.” Hermione said worriedly. ”That’s at least child endangerment, if not child abuse.”

”It’s not a big deal.” Neville said again, starting to look uncomfortable.

”Well, I can say that I never turned a teacher’s hair blue.” Blaise changed the subject. (There’d been a bit of that going around that day.)

”I changed all of my brother’s clothes a really bright blue when I was five. He called me a boring bookworm for liking books, and I guess I got mad enough to mess with his stuff. Don’t really know how it would’ve helped me though.”

”Accidental magic is usually supposed to be a wizarding child’s defense mechanism, but it’s also an outlet for children. When they get mad or scared their magic fluctuates and strikes out. There’s not always a specific reason.” Blaise said.

”That does make sense.” Lisa smiled.

”That’s an actual fucking castle.” Harry said seriously, getting a close-up view of Hogwarts for the first time. The boats had gotten around the trees at the back of the castle that grew close together, and all of the first years could see Hogwarts.

”Harry!” Hermione cried.

”Oh come off it, like you weren’t thinking the same.” Harry waved a hand at her.

”It really is beautiful.” Susan craned her head to get a better look.

”Gran said that the castle was one of Slytherin’s pet projects, and when he and the other Founders decided to make Hogwarts, he volunteered the castle.” Neville said.

”He did. The insides were mostly empty, so Hufflepuff did the decorating and the rooms. Ravenclaw got permission from the Forest to have the school here, and Gryffindor did the defenses.” Blaise added.

”You know most historians think it’s a sentient being? Like how it created the Come-And-Go Room.” Hermione said.

”The Come-And-Go Room?” Susan asked.

”The Room of Requirement. It’s kind of an urban legend about Hogwarts, it’s a room that only appears when someone really needs it, and has whatever they need inside.” Hermione said excitedly. ”I’d love to find it, but _Hogwarts: A History_ says it revealing itself is pretty rare.”

”So, like, if someone needed a hospital, the Room would provide it for them?” Harry asked.

”I guess so, yeah, but there’s also the Infirmary for that.” Susan put in.

”I’m so hungry.” Neville stared mournfully at the candy in some of the students on other boat’s hands.

”I think I have a Chocolate Frog in here somewhere...” Lisa patted her robe pockets.

”Oh crap.” Harry cussed, remembering the apple he’d left in his bag. ”I had an apple in my bag.”

”Sucks to suck, mate.” Susan tsked. Hermione’s mouth dropped at their “vulgar” language.

”I heard a couple of the older students talking about a Welcoming Feast.” Susan said. ”There should be plenty of food then.”

”I found it!” Lisa said triumphantly. She handed a blue and gold box to Neville.

”You’re the best.” Neville groaned, tearing open the box and jamming the head of the Chocolate Frog in his mouth.

”That- that’s really gross to be honest.” Harry said, grimacing at the wriggling chocolate legs.

”They don’t actually feel pain or anything.” Blaise reminded him.

”Still weird.”

The boats finally reached the shores of Hogwarts, and Hagrid led the first years up the the hill to the school. The new students whispered and gossiped about the Sorting, eager to join their House. A red-headed boy proudly proclaimed to anyone that could hear that he was going to join Gryffindor, the best House. A blond boy bragged to his friends that he would be joining Slytherin, and couldn’t wait to be away from the Mudbloods and blood-traitors.

”What House do you think you’ll be in, Harry?” Hermione asked as they hiked up the steep hill.

”I’m really not sure, but Blaise seems to think I’d be good in Ravenclaw.” Harry said.

”I met him at Flourish and Blotts, and he ended up leaving with at least six books more than he needed.” Blaise explained. 

”I’m hoping for Ravenclaw too.” Lisa said excitedly. ”One of my friends, Morag, has a sister there, and she’s told us about the libraries and all the extra academic perks Ravenclaw offers.”

”Hey, I met Morag at Madam Malkins!” Harry exclaimed. ”She was really nice to me.”

”She is, she’s very friendly to everyone.” Lisa grinned.

”MacDougal, right?” Neville asked, Harry and Lisa nodding. ”I know her sister, Isobel, she helped me when I got lost at their Yule party a couple years back.”

”The MacDougal’s really do throw good balls.” Blaise said. 

”Balls?” Harry scrunched his nose. ”Like Cinderella balls?”

”Cinderella?” Blaise gave him a confused look.

”You guys don’t have Cinderella?”

”No?”

”Thats a crime, robbing children of Disney movies.” Harry shook his head.

”Cinderella was a princess, and she got to go to this huge ball where she met a prince.” Hermione explained to the others.

”Oh, well then yes, it is kind of like that. There are four holidays most pureblood and a lot of half-blood wizarding families observe; Yule, Imbolc, Samhain, and Beltane. Yule is like the wizarding version of Muggle Christmas, it is a celebration of life and the ending of a year. Every year the wizarding families’ names are put into a hat and three are picked to host parties. There’s so many families that everyone agreed that three families chosen at random hosting the parties and celebrations would be much easier. Of course, some people choose not to go to each party, or they have smaller gathering of their own, but the three main parties are the biggest and if you’re looking to make connections, that’ where you would go.” Blaise said.

”How many wizarding families are there?” Hermione asked curiously.

”There’s the Sacred Twenty-Eight pureblood families, but some of them have died out, like the Gaunt’s and the Prewett’s, not counting Molly Weasley. But there’s more not included, like the Potter’s, the Diggory’s, and the Lovegood’s.” Blaise listed.

”Imbolc is the festival marking the beginning of spring. It’s usually held on the first of February, or somewhere between the spring and winter equinoxes. Magic flourishes during spring, because spring brings new life. During Imbolc, the offerings to Lady Magic are taken very seriously. Families, or individual wizards and witches, depending on their choice, will burn an offering to Lady Magic in the central flame. The flame is generated by the combined magic of the attending families, and only one main Imbolc celebration is held, so that the magic is strongest at one time.” Susan told Hermione and Harry.

”This year, the Abbott’s held Imbolc at their mountain estate. It was beautiful.” Lisa sighed.

”The flame was weirdly strong, right?” Neville commented. ”Gran said it was a good omen.”

”Let’s hope so, I want my first year at Hogwarts to be a good one.” Blaise said.

”What are the other holidays, again?” Harry asked.

”The other two are Samhain and Beltane.” Lisa clarified. ”Samhain is actually coming pretty soon, just at the end of October. Like Yule, it’s the wizarding opposite of All Hallow’s Eve.”

”Er, do you mean Halloween?” Hermione asked.

”Yes, I suppose so. I don’t keep track of Muggle holidays very well.” Lisa said a bit apologetically.

”During Samhain, the border between the physical and spiritual world’s are at their weakest, so families can talk to passed loved ones. It’s just a matter of having enough magic, a fire, and a small offering. Anything that is connected to the spirit you way to talk to works, like an old piece of clothing, or a favorite food of theirs.” Neville said. ”Samhain is my favorite h-holiday, because I can talk to my grandparents who can tell me about my p-parents.”

”I‘m sorry about them, Neville. I know you don’t like to talk about it.” Lisa smiles sympathetically at him.

”I wish they could raise me, but they can’t, and I’m alright with Gran.” Neville said.

”If you don’t mind my asking, why can’t your parents raise you?” Harry asked a bit timidly.

”When I was a baby, my parent’s were held to the Cruciatus curse by Bellatrix and Roldophus Lestrange, two of You-Know-Who’s followers. Like Lisa said, too much time under it can cause brain damage, and my parents aren’t right in the head anymore because of it. But I’m not ashamed, they stood up to You-Know-Who, and I’m proud of them for it.” Neville said fiercely.

”That’s a good attitude about it, mate.” Blaise gave him a rare approving look.

”Thank you.” Neville said awkwardly.

”Well then, what’s Beltane?” Harry asked after a continuing silence.

”Beltane is the ritual for couples.” Susan jumped in. ”Like the Samhain and Imbolc rituals, there’s a fire for the offerings for Lady Magic, and the couples wish for, usually, fertility. You know, to have a baby. There’s a feast and some dancing, and then the couples end up, er, trying to have a baby. The fire’s light after you present your sacrifice represents how Lady Magic thinks of you. If it’s strong and colorful, then she favors you and there’s a good chance you’ll be able to conceive. The Fire should be red and green for growth, fertility, passion, and strength. If the fire is dim and weak, Lady Magic didn’t accept your offering, and you’d have to wait ’til next year. The offerings can be anything really, as long as it’s special in some way. Lady Magic will know what it means to you and decides whether to bless you or not based on the item. It’s also the only safe way to help same-sex couples have a kid.”

”Some people use Beltane as a cleansing ritual. The offering rules are the same, and if the fire glows white or silver then Lady Magic has cleansed you of whatever it is you prayed to her for. It could be dark Magic, a curse, a disease, or even bad luck.” Blaise added.

”Halloween seems a lot less important that wizarding holidays.” Harry said, stupefied.

”A bunch of kids running around in costumes for candy does pale in comparison to rituals for your life.” Hermione said.

”You’re going to hear a _lot_ about that from Malfoy.” Susan said dryly.

”Draco has been told over and over by _Narcissa Malfoy_ about how Muggles turned Samhain into an excuse for kids to gorge themselves on candy.” Blaise snorted. ”I’ve heard her rants about it, very entertaining.”

”Who’s Malfoy?” Hermione asked.

”Draco Malfoy is a pureblood, he’s in our year. His family is rich, like really rich, and has a lot of old magic.” Neville shivered at the mention of him.

”But they’re smarter than some of the other old pureblood families in how they’ve married half-bloods to avoid inbreeding, unlike the Goyles, Crabbes, Gaunts, Blacks, and Lestranges.” Blaise pointed out. ”They’re still pureblood, but avoided any of the, er, academic difficulties the Crabbes and Goyles developed-”

”Quiet down please everyone, you’ll be goin’ inside in jus’ a moment.” Hagrid told them. The children quieted considerably, anxious to finally enter Hogwarts.

The door swung open and a tall, greying witch in emerald-green robes stood imperiously. She stared at them sternly, surveying the new crop of first years.

”The firs’ years, Professor McGonagall.” Hagrid said.

”Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.” The tall man left, and the woman pulled the doors wide. The entrance hall was massive, Harry had never seen a room so large. It was lit with flaming torches, and the ceiling was so high Harry could barely see the top. To the left was a wide staircase leading what Harry assumed were the upper floors, based on what he remembered from _Hogwarts: A History._

The first years followed the professor across the floor, and they could hear the clamor of the older students from a large doorway to their right, presumably the Welcoming Feast. The students stood together closely, looking around eagerly.

”Welcome to Hogwarts.” said Professor McGonagall. ”The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you sit down in the Great Hall, you will be Sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony, as your House will be like your family in Hogwarts. You will be with your House at nearly all times, whether in classes with your House, sleepin in your House dormitory, or spending free time in your House common room.”

”For those of you who do not already know, the four Houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has it’s own noble history and has produced outstanding witches and wizards. During your time here, your triumphs will earn you House points, while any rule breaking will lose points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours.”

”The Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.” Her eyes lingered on Weasley’s smudged nose. Harry unconsciously tugged his beanie further down on his hair, trying to smash his curls.

”I shall return when we are ready for you.” The Professor said. ”Please wait quietly.” A couple minutes passed with Weasley and Malfoy bickering over Houses when several people screamed. 

”Holy shit.” Harry gasped. About twenty transparent ghosts had streamed through the back wall, vying for a look at the new year.

”What a mouth for an eleven year old.” A fat, stout man raised an eyebrow at Harry. 

”You should hear my friend.” Harry countered.

”I hope not.” The man said. ”I am the Fat Friar, ghost of Hufflepuff House.”

”Yes yes, now can we get back to the subject? Peeves is giving us all a bad name, and he’s not even a ghost, he’s a poltergeist!” One of the other ghosts wailed, spinning around the room and through a few students.

”Move along now, the Sorting Ceremony is about to start.” McGonagall said sharply, coming back through the doors. One by one, the ghosts floated away.

”Now form a line, and follow me.” Harry shuffled into a line between Blaise and Hermione, walking out of the chamber and into a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. The Hall was lit by thousands and thousands of candles, floating over four long tables lined with students of varying heights. The tables were laid with glittering plates and goblets. At the front of the Hall was another long table with at least a dozen adults sitting there, probably the faculty.

Professor McGonagall led the first years up there, and stopped in a line facing the other students. When Harry looked up, he could see that the ghosts had flown up into the rafters, the fake sky glittering with the pale glow of the ghosts.

”It’s bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in _Hogwarts: A History._ ” Hermione said from behind him. She sounded so proud that she knew that that Harry decided not to tell her he already knew. Harry watched as Professor McGonagall silently place a four legged stool in front of the first years. She left a pointed wizard’s hat on top of it, and the hat ripped a mouth open.

”Oh, you may not think I’m pretty, but don’t judge on what you see, I’ll eat myself if you can fine, a smarter hat than me.”

”You can keep your bowlers black, your top hats sleek and tall, for I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat, and I can cap them all.”

”There’s nothing hidden in your head, the Sorting Hat can’t see, so try me on and I will tell you, where you ought to be.”

”You might belong in Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart. Their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindors apart.”

”You might belong in Hufflepuff, where they are just and loyal. Those patient Hufflepuffs are true and unafraid of toil.”

”Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, if you’ve a steady mind, where those of wit and learning, will always find their kind.”

”Or perhaps in Slytherin, you’ll make your real friends. Those cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends.”

”So put me on! Don’t be afraid! And don’t get in a flap! You’re in safe hands, though I have none, for I’m a Thinking Cap!” The hat finished. Professor McGonagall stepped forward and pulled out a scroll of... parchment?

”When I call your name, it will be your turn to put on they hat. Abbot, Hannah!” She called out. A small girl with blond hair rushes forward and sat down, McGonagall placing the hat on her head.

”HUFFLEPUFF!” The hat announced after less than half a minute, the yellow and black table clapping loudly for the girl.

”Bones, Susan!” Susan walked from behind Neville (who was behind her Hermione) to the hat before taking it from McGonagall and putting it on confidently. 

”HUFFLEPUFF!” Susan smiled and sat next to Abbot, introducing herself quietly. The names went by quickly for Harry, with Hermione being placed in Gryffindor, and Neville joining her with a nervous smile. Morag from the robes shop got into Ravenclaw, an older girl with hair like her’s hugging her.

”Potter, Harry!” McGonagall called out. Harry breathed in and stood up, the kids around him turning to stare at him. Variations of “That’s Potter?” broke out. He walked to the stool next to McGonagall and sat down gingerly.

_”Ah, hello, Mr. Potter. I’ve been looking forward to your Sorting.”_ The hat’s voice appeared in his head.

_”Er, good evening, sir. What should I call you?”_ Harry thought.

_”Most people simply call me the Sorting Hat, but you are welcome to call me Frederick.”_ The hat said in a warm tone.

_”Okay, nice to meet you Frederick. I have to get Sorted now, don’t I?”  
_

_”Indeed. Well, you’ve got plenty of courage, and oh, so much compassion and loyalty, perfect for Hufflepuff. A thirst for knowledge, mm, that’ll do you well in Ravenclaw and Slytherin. A need to prove yourself, not unlike Slytherin ambition.”_

_”Whatever you think is best for me, sir. I’d just to like to ask for a House that I’ll be okay in. I don’t really want fame, so if there’s a House that can give me what I want without making too much of a fuss, that’d be great.”_ Harry told him.

_”No fame? But you still want to pursue your goals?”_

_”Yes, please.”_

_”Hm. Well, you’ve certainly got a love of books and learning, got some creativity up there too. I suppose your cunning could be seen as wisdom. A bit of courage is always good for one looking to further what the world knows. Well then, better be-”_

”RAVENCLAW!” ‘Frederick’ roared, and the blue and bronze table applauded thunderously, louder than any of the other tables. McGonagall took the hat from him a little sadly, smiling at him and shooing him to his table. Harry sat down next to Morag, who gave him a small smile.

”Well, at least I know one person.” Harry joked.

”I know some of the girls and one of the boys, they’ve all been nice to me. I’m sure we’ll all introduce ourselves after the Sorting is finished.” Morag whispered. The rest of the Sorting went quietly for Harry, ending with Blaise walking up to Hat and being Sorted into Slytherin after a minute. Blaise had given him a what-the-fuck look before sitting at the Slytherin table. Lisa joined him in Ravenclaw, saying a quiet hello to Morag.

”Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!” The Headmaster sat back down in his seat, and the silver dishes filled with food. The Hall broke out into conversation, a lot of people pleased about the arriving of food.

”So, you’re Harry Potter, and you just decided not to tell me?” Lisa turned on Harry.

”Oh don’t worry, he didn’t say anything to me either!” Morag raised an eyebrow at him.

”Well sorry, for wanting to make some friends without them knowing I’m famous.” Harry muttered.

”We don’t care that you’re famous-” Harry gave her a look. ”Alright so maybe we do, but we wanted to be your friend before, and we still do, you idiot.” Lisa smacked him up the head lightly.

”Really? And it’s not just ‘cuz I’m a celebrity?” Harry asked one more time.

”Yes, you prat.” Morag shook her head. ”You were nice to me in Madam Malkin’s, and you didn’t even know me. I liked you then, and I’m not so sure about now, but-”

”Hey!”

”Oh shut up, point is, we don’t care _that_ much. Just be a regular Ravenclaw with us, would you?” Morag said exasperatedly.

”Okay.” Harry said, slightly dumbfounded.

”Good. Now could you pass the steak over there? I’m starving.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would like to put it out there that i do indeed need a beta, anyone willing to please comment and also i have no idea how to share the chapter with you other than adding you as an author but i also have no idea how to do that
> 
> i’m an idiot sue me
> 
> all of the stuff about the pureblood holidays i created mostly myself. i took some inspiration from google, and added and took out some stuff as i saw fit for this world. if you have any questions, feel free to comment.
> 
> EDIT: 1:05 AM WED JULY 22: um so i totally forgot about Harry’s cast lol sue me so i put in an explanation to the group about his bandage.


	7. seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> harry has dinner, meets his dorm mates, and meets a house elf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m sorry this took a little longer i just didn’t really feel like writing. my mom had a bit of a scare over her work firing at least four people due to covid, so it was a bit of a stressful weekend. also, my school is starting up in less than a month, so updates are going to be less frequent. maybe like two weeks or one and half in between.
> 
> it’s also a bit shorter because i wanted to finally update and it’s been over a week, and it’s only like 3k
> 
> WHO ELSE WATCHED HAMILTON?? THERE’S WAY TOO MANY SONGS I LOVE, HELPLESS, THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED, SAY NO TO THIS, I MEAN HOLY SHIT
> 
> so for fun i’ve decided i’m gonna post some of the songs i listen to white writing, mostly because i feel like everyone can use more music so-
> 
> TKN - Rosaliá and Travis Scott  
> Out of Love - Alessia Cara  
> Start A Riot - Duckwrth (spiderman into the spider verse soundtrack) (lmao this was a mood at one in the morning)

”So, you’re Harry Potter?” Harry looked up from his dinner to a boy with light brown hair.

”Er, yes.”

”Cool. Is it true that you were raised by goblins? Me, Michael, and Anthony have a bet going on it. I think that you were adopted by some obscure wizarding family, Anthony thinks the goblin thing has merit, the idiot, and Michael thinks that you grew up with any Muggle relatives from your mum’s side.” The boy leaned over to him.

”I don’t know who Michael is, but he’s right. I live with my mum’s Muggle sister and her family.” Harry took a bite of chicken.

”Crap.” The boy handed a different boy with dark hair a couple of sickles, and another boy with blond hair did the same  
  
”I’m Michael, Michael Corner.” The dark haired boy who won the bet introduced. ”That’s Terry, and that’s Anthony.” Michael pointed to each new Ravenclaw.

”I’m Harry, nice to meet you.” Harry smiled.

”Is that why you wear that green thing on your head? To hide the scar?” A girl asked from where she sat next to Terry.

”Yeah, pretty much. Someone gave me the beanie at Diagon Alley so I could go shopping in peace.” Harry answered.

”If you insist on covering your forehead, you should find a better way to hide it. The only good thing about your hat is the color.” The girl tsked.

”I wasn’t exactly concerned about my fashion sense.” Harry rolled his eyes, but there was no malice in the expression or his voice.

”You’re Harry Potter. Eventually someone’s going to take a picture of you and it’ll get in the newspapers.” The girl gestured with her fork.

”They are, aren’t they.” Harry stared mournfully at his mashed potatoes.

”Oh lighten up. Brocklehurst, it really doesn’t matter how he dresses, even if he gets in the newspapers.” Anthony rolls his eyes. ”What really matters is what he gets in the newspapers for.”

”True.” ‘Brocklehurst’ conceded.

”I’m literally only eleven, can’t they just leave me alone?” Harry asked.

”Didn’t stop them back when you weren’t even two and reporters were sniffing around the Potter cottage looking for a story.” Morag said matter-of-factly.

”What’s the Potter cottage?” Harry furrowed his brows.

”It’s where you lived before You-Know-Who killed your parents. Same place he murdered them.” A girl down near Anthony informed him. Harry blinks.

”You all have no tact.” Lisa sighed.

”You do know who You-Know-Who is, right Harry?” Brocklehurst asked.

”I do, I just don’t know a lot of the details.” Harry took off his glasses and began to wipe them. ”My aunt told me they died in a car crash, and all the books I have on them only talk about how they died. There’s not much personal information about them or how we lived, and even if she knew, my aunt wouldn’t exactly be willing to tell me.”

”I can ask my mum if she has anything related to your parents.” The girl down near Anthony offered.

”I- You don’t have to, and how would she have anything anyways?” Harry stuttered, putting his glasses back on.

”The Patil’s are actually related to the Potters. We’re some sort of distant cousins, and my mom was talking with your grandparents and your dad about the time when, you know, happened.” She winced a bit. ”So, yes or no?”

”... thank you, that’d be nice.” Harry thanked her.

”No problem. I’m Padma, by the way. Padma Patil. If you didn’t already notice, I have a twin. Her name is Parvati.” Padma told him.

”Well, now that the little family reunion is pretty much over, can someone please explain to what the hell were they thinking with that Potions textbook?” Terry burst. 

”It’s entirely too long for most eleven year olds.” Lisa cut in. ”Sure we might like it, but I’m willing to bet that most of the other students can barely get through a chapter...”

”Thank you all for a lovely Welcoming Feast, and have a good first night. First years, use tonight to get to know your new housemates, but don’t stay up too late. Classes start tomorrow, and it’ll be a full day.” Dumbledore said from his stand at the faculty table. ”Prefects, you may now lead your Houses to the dormitories.” The students immediately got up and eagerly left the Great Hall as a lot of them really needed to use the bathroom. (It was at least two hours in there with a lot of food and drink, they’re bound to need to use the bathroom.)

The Ravenclaw first years shuffled together up the changing stairs behind the older students. Harry watched the moving paintings in awe, and tried not to fall off the stairs. Soon enough, the students finally reached the hallways, and they were free to walk without the fear of getting left behind or plummeting to their deaths.

”I can’t wait to start classes tomorrow.” Lisa said happily, walking next to Harry and Padma. ”I really want to try Charms.”

”Our Charms teacher is our Head of House, so we’ll get him some time tomorrow. My sister told me that the first years get their Head of House’s class sometime the first day.” Morag munched on a licorice stick she’d stolen before the food disappeared.

”What’s his name again?” Anthony asked.

”Filius Flitwick. He’s half goblin, you know, makes it easier for him to do Charms.”

”Why’s that?” Harry asked curiously.

”Goblins have a lot of natural magic in them, they don’t need wands to perform spells. It makes it easier for Flitwick to do Charms.” Morag explained.

”I’ve only tried a couple spells before, I hope it’s not too hard.” Harry chewed on his lip.

”There are Muggleborns who haven’t done any magic and still get good grades, don’t worry about it.” Padma waved a hand. ”We’ll be willing to help you anyways.”

”Thanks.” Harry smiled in relief.

”I heard they give flying lessons.” Anthony grinned. ”I love flying, but my mum thinks it’s dangerous. Rubbish, if I get hurt, I can just take a healing draught.”

”Still, you shouldn’t be reckless on a broom.” Lisa frowned. ”If you fall and break your neck, a healing draught won’t help you.”

”Whatever.” Anthony waved her off. ”I won’t be _that_ careless.”

”What’s flying like?” Harry asked.

”It’s great, you can see a lot from the sky, and when you go fast the wind feels amazing.” Anthony sighed.

”Are you going to try out for quidditch next year?” Terry asked.

”I’d like to try, but I mostly just fly for fun, I’m not any good.” Anthony shrugged.

”Could you explain to me the rules of quidditch later? I’ve heard of it and I know what the basic goal is, but I don’t know how points are scored or anything else.” Harry asked Anthony.

”Sure, I can lend you a couple books if you like?”

To Harry, books were good, books were safe, books showed him what he needed to know, books gave him an escape, books helped him. The fact that there seemed to be books on basically everything helped calm some of Harry’s anxiety.

”That would be great, thanks.” Harry smiled gratefully at Anthony.

The mass of Ravenclaws finally reached Ravenclaw Tower, and it was a couple minutes before the door swung open and the students streamed inside. Harry and the first years were in the middle of the group, and they watched the older students move around them confidently, saying hello to friends and going to their dorms.

”First years, all over here! We have some rules and an introduction to give.” A Prefect with blonde hair tucked into a thin headband said cheerfully. The first years moved past the older students and sat down in the huge armchairs and sofas in front of the fireplace. Harry tucked himself into a chair with Morag squished next to him. 

The older students finally all went upstairs, and the two Prefects left stood up a little taller when the room quieted and all eyes went to them.

”Welcome to Hogwarts, and congratulations on getting into Ravenclaw!” The girl with blonde hair smiled at the new first years.

”These next seven years are going to be really long, but they will also be the best ones of your life.” The standing next to her spoke up. ”I’m Robert Hilliard, fifth year prefect, and this is Penelope Clearwater, the other Ravenclaw fifth year prefect.”

”Ravenclaw may be known as the bookworm House, or the nerd House, but it’s actually the House of explorers.” Clearwater said. ”Ravenclaw isn’t simply about learning the textbooks, we’re about pushing the boundaries of what’s known, making our own rules in the laws of science and magic, helping the next generation.”

”So, please don’t be afraid or offended by being Sorted here. Ravenclaw is a worthy House, and everyone is plenty smart enough to be here if the Hat put them here.” Hilliard said warmly.

”Now that we’ve talked a bit about Ravenclaw, let’s move on to the rules.” Clearwater clapped her hands. ”The rules in our House are simple. Please behave in classes, we have a hard time getting points with Snape favoring the Slytherins and Dumbledore favoring the Gryffindors.”

”You’d think that they’d grow up, but _nooo_.” Hilliard grumbled.

”Anyways,” Clearwater shot a look at Hilliard. ”The way to enter Ravenclaw Tower is by answering the riddle the door gives you. You might not have seen the riddle tonight because most of you were more towards the back, but remember when we stopped for a couple minutes? Yeah, that was us figuring out the riddle. You don’t always have to solve the riddle, during exams we keep the door open, we know how stressful it already is. You don’t need to worry about figuring out a riddle on top of everything. On normal days, if you simply don’t want to solve the riddle, knock on the door, and someone will open it for you. Try to actually solve the riddle sometimes though, please?”

”None of you are allowed to try out for the quidditch team until next year. First years are given flying lessons, but are not permitted to play.” Harry heard Anthony mutter something underneath his breath at that,

”Your trunks and bags are already inside your dorms, when you were Sorted they were sent to your rooms. The dormitories have beds, drawers, nighstands, and a lamp for each of you. You are welcome to add anything else you may like, within reason. If you have pets that are not owls, the house elves will feed them twice a day, and will wash them once a week. Any other grooming such as nail clippings or haircuts will be as needed. All owls will stay in the Owlery unless they are delivering a message for you. They are a few owls for all students to use, but please don’t overwork them, try to take notice of the owls that look tired.” 

Hilliard waved at the bulletin board near the fireplace. ”This is what we use to give out announcements to the House that aren’t urgent. So things like quidditch tryouts, study groups, and clubs, or even professor-mandated field trips. Those aren’t very often, but if a student asks, sometimes a professor will accompany them. Ravenclaw and Slytherin have easier chances of getting these, as we usually do more than the Puffs or the Gryffindors, not to say that they don’t try, but we tend to do our own independent studies.” Hilliard said.

A tall Asian girl raised her hand. ”So, like, if we asked to go to the Alps, we could?”

”If a professor deems it a worthy trip, they will go with you. There’s a good chance that if you ask to go see Pygmy Puffs because they’re cute you won’t be getting your field trip.” Clearwater said.

”We’ll give you all a little time here in the common room to get to know one another, but we’ll come back down at ten, and you all better be in your dorms by then.” Hilliard warned. The first years nodded and said they understood, and the two Prefects went up the stairs to their dorms.

”I’m still hungry.” Michael sighed, breaking the tentative silence.

”We can ask the house elves for something.” Lisa said.

”We can call the house elves?” Harry asked.

”Yeah, as long as it’s something small, like a pillow or something.” Morag shrugged.

”How do we call them?” Harry tilted his head.

”Usually you just have to call their name, but I don’t know any of their names...” Morag said.

”Maybe we can just ask?” A boy piped up.

”How? Just go, oh house elves of Hogwarts, hear our plea, we want more food?” Morag said sarcastically. The students in the rooms shrieked when with a ‘pop’ a short, wrinkled creature appeared in the middle of the little circle they’d formed.

”Reesey heard young master’s and mistress’s calling?” She said in a high pitched voice. Harry felt sad for the house elf, despite the elves willingly serving wizards. It still didn’t seem fair to him that they had to punish themselves, like the bandages around Reesey’s ear suggested. Or the thin tablecloth that served as her clothes.

”Hello, Reesey. We were wondering if we could maybe get a couple snacks from the kitchen?” Harry asked her kindly. The small elf preened when she was asked to do something.

”Yes, sir, Reesey can! What would young masters and mistresses like?” Reesey looked up at him.

”Uh, Michael?” Harry looked to Michael.

”Um, do you have, like a muffin?” Michael asked uncertainly.

”Yes yes, Reesey can be getting muffins.”

”That’s good then, thank you.”

”Of course, young master.” Reesey bowed low to Michael, and with a snap of her fingers, a muffin popped into Michael’s lap. Michael picked it up and immediately began to eat it.

”Is there anything else young master’s and mistress’s be wanting?” Reesey looked around the room. The room chorused their ‘no’s and ‘I’m fine’s.

”Reesey thanks young master’s and mistress’s for letting Reesey serve them.” Reesey bowed again before ‘pop’-ping back to wherever it was she came from.

”Well, that was a house elf.” A black haired boy blew his hair out of his eyes.

”They’re very efficient, but I always wish we could clean them a bit.” Padma wrinkled her nose.

”I get that they’re happy serving, but I wish we could give them actual clothes.” Harry sighed. 

”To be given clothes is most house elves’ worst nightmare.” Anthony pointed out.

”I know, but they still look so... small. Hungry. Overworked.” Harry said.

”It’s just now things are.” Padma said matter-of-factly. ”The elves are happy, and it works.” 

”Yeah, I suppose so.” Harry conceded. He knew that house elves lived so serve and would most likely die without a master to serve, but it still felt a bit like slavery to him.

”We should probably get to know one another.” Terry suggested after a minute. ”You know, at least our names. Something about us.”

”Are we gonna do icebreakers?” Anthony scrunched his nose.

”They do work for a reason, Goldstein.” Morag said.

”Alright, well, maybe we just go around, say our names, and one thing about us?” Michael suggested, and the room gave their consent. Morag spoke up after the students kept all looking at one another, waiting for someone to start.

”I’m Morag MacDougal.” Morag waved. ”My sister Isobel is a fourth year and also in Ravenclaw.”

”I’m Lisa Turpin, I don’t care if you call me Lisa or Turpin.” Lisa smiled her soft smile. All the eyes in the room swung to Harry, who was next to Lisa.

”Harry, Harry Potter. But I guess you all already know that.” Harry rolled his eyes. A couple of them laughed. ”I have a cat, her name’s Selene.”

”Ooh, I love cats! What kind of breed is she?” Brocklehurst said, her brown hair swinging as she leaned to Harry.

”I’m not sure, the employee I asked didn’t know, but I did some research and I think she’s a Bombay cat-”

”You two can talk about cats later, we still have more people to go through.” Morag rolled her eyes teasingly.

”Padma Patil. My sister Parvati is in Gryffindor.” Padma introduced herself. 

”I’m Michael Corner, and I’d like to be a Healer when I graduate.” Michael confessed.

”My name’s Kevin Entwhistle.” The boy next to Michael pushed sandy blond hair out of his eyes. ”I don’t like the color orange.” A couple people snorted at his answer.

”I’m Sue Li.” The Asian girl who’d asked about the Alps smiled. ”I like art, you know, painting, drawing, charcoals, oil pastels.”

”Stephen Cornfoot. I have an older brother, but he goes to Durmstrang.” A pale blond boy scratched his neck, shifting in his seat.

”I’m Mandy Brocklehurst, my parents are magizoologists, and I really like animals.” Brocklehurst said.

”I’m Trevor Boot, but everyone calls me Terry.” Terry grinned. ”I like Potions.”

”Anthony, Anthony Goldstein, and I have little sister, she’s nine.” Anthony said. 

”Well, it’s nice getting to know everyone a bit.” Michael pushed himself up in his seat.

”Are we allowed to use the bathroom? I’ve had to go since the Sorting.” Stephen flushed red.

”Where are the bathrooms anyways?” Harry mused.

”They’ll give us a map or something tomorrow, right? The school is huge.” Sue frowned.

”We can ask.” Harry shrugged.

”I’m so tired.” Anthony yawned.

”Me too. I’ve been up since six.” Lisa said.

”Well, I guess it’s good we’re here.” Hilliard’s voice came from the stairs. The first years all turned to him.

”It’s good to see you all talking, but it’s time for bed. Breakfast starts at seven tomorrow, and classes start at nine.” Clearwater said warmly.

”Boys, I’ll be taking you to your dorms. Penelope will take the girls to theirs.” Hilliard made a ‘come on’ gesture with his hand. The first years all got up from the chairs and followed their respective prefect to their dorm. Harry climbed up the stairs with a feeling of excitement, and longing to see Selene.

”This is your dormitory this year. As you grow older, your dorms get higher and higher. The first years have the lowest floor.” Hilliard pushed open the door. ”It’s not grand, but it should be enough for all your things, and the bathrooms are rather nice.”

Harry followed Anthony into the room, mouth dropping at the four-poster canopy beds and large trunks. Their bags were stacked neatly in a corner near an empty bookshelf. Selene meowed from her cage.

”Holy crap.” Kevin whistled.

”I wouldn’t say that around the teachers, but I’m glad you like the room.” Hilliard chuckled.

”It’s great.” Stephen breathed. The six boys went to their trunks quickly, and Hilliard told them goodnight before shutting the door. Harry hefted his trunk in his hand and dragged it over to the bed by the window. He dropped his trunk at the foot of the bed and went back for his bag and Selene.

”Aw, how was it without me? I hope they fed you okay.” Harry whispered to her. He took her to his bed and sat down. He unlocked the cage and Selene walked out, finding a spot on the blue covers and purring.

”That’s your cat?” Terry called from his bed by the door presumably to the bathroom. 

”She is, her name’s Selene.” Harry said proudly, stroking her ear. ”She’s really quiet and doesn’t mess with anything, so I swear she’ll be fine.”

”As long as I don’t end up with cat poop in my bed, I don’t mind.” Terry grinned.

”She should be pretty good with using that.” Harry nodded to the litter box that had appeared by the foot of his bed when he’d placed his trunk there.

”The litter boxes here are charmed to make any feces disappear.” Stephen told Harry. ”My brother has a cat and his box did it.”

”Thats good, I wasn’t looking forward to cleaning it.” Harry joked.

”I think she fell asleep.” Michael pointed to Selene. Harry turned to see her chest rumbling slightly.

”I should do the same, it is getting a little late.” Harry yawned. He got up and opened his trunk to get his pants and shirt, changing quickly. He didn’t really care if any of his roommates saw his body, they probably would eventually.

”Hey, what’s that?” Terry asked Harry, looking at his bandage.

”Oh, I broke a vase, and the glass cut my arm. I had to get stitches, and this is to, like, protect the skin I guess.” Harry said.

”You should go to the Infirmary when you can, Madam Pomfrey might be able to do something.” Terry suggested.

”Okay, sure. Maybe after classes.” Harry told him. Harry finished changing and got under his blankets, gently so he didn’t disturb Selene. Harry shut his heavy eyes and fell asleep quickly, the day’s events catching up to him. He slept peacefully knowing he had some new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i looked up some of the characters, but mostly made up shit about them for this story. and i did do some digging, and we all know there’s minimal racial representation in harry potter but there’s literally not a single hispanic character? like? what the fuck? so i’m thinking of adding in some oc’s that are hispanic or Pacific Islander or asian or black etc, mostly in the upper and lower years where we have a lot of uncertainty
> 
> btw i myself am german/portuguese and japanese, so if i say something that’s racially offensive to anyone, please let me know and i’ll change it


	8. eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> harry gets his class schedule, meets a painting, and educates a few people on racism.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW HI SORRY FOR THE MONTH LONG WAIT
> 
> i’ve been busy with my grandmother and preparing for school, idk dude i started getting nervous for school (it’s fucking high school sue me) and i read more fics when i start thinking about that kind of stuff to distract me. i’ve also been working on a bunch of shorter drafts that i want to post soon lol.
> 
> ALSO I JUMPED BACK INTO THE VOLTRON FANDOM AND IDEAS HAVE BEEN DROWNING ME OH MY GODDDD I REMEMBER WHY I LOVED KLANCE 
> 
> on a calmer note, i’m sorry about the formatting, i tried my best to make it equal and neat. i realized that if they have three hour classes they would only be able to have each class once or twice a week so i tried to make a schedule that balanced out the classes. canonically the classes are like three fucking hours which doesn’t really make sense but whatever lol
> 
> idk if mentions of kids changing is inappropriate but it’s not meant that way at all, it’s literally just describing them changing and being lazy sleepy kids in the morning i don’t think it is but idk just putting this here
> 
> THIS CHAPTERS SONGS  
> Grace - Surfaces  
> Right Hand Man - Hamilton Soundtrack  
> cardigan - Taylor Swift

Harry woke once during the night to Selene burrowing her way underneath his arm. He sleepily tried to push her away, and when he finally opened his eyes she stared at him as if daring him to make her move.

He decided she could have her spot.

He fell back asleep, and the room full of boys woke up in the morning to the small silver little clock on the wall chiming gently. Harry rubbed his eyes and watched the clock softly announce to the room that it was six-thirty. Selene gave a surprised ‘mrow’ as Harry sat up, dislodging her from her position.

”Sorry, Selene.” He whispered. He stroked her behind the ear and Selene rubbed against his finger briefly before turning over and going back to sleep. Michael groaned from his bed, flipped over, and smashed his face into his pillow. Harry pushed the blankets off him and swung his legs over the bed. The wood floor was cold beneath his feet and Harry wished he had some socks. He opened the door to the bathroom and quickly did his business. 

”Morning, Harry.” Stephen yawned, stepping into the bathroom.

”Good morning, Stephen.” Harry turned on the faucet to wash his hands. When he finished, he took his toothbrush off the toothbrush-holder attached to the wall. There were six toothbrushes and each had a name of one of the Ravenclaw first years above them. He brushed his teeth while slowly blinking at his reflection in the mirror. He didn’t have a hard time actually waking up, but he needed at least fifteen minutes to actually process things.

Anthony and Kevin shuffled into the bathroom less than five minutes later, and Harry left to put on his clothes. Harry found that his clothes were now hemmed in blue and bronze, and his sweater and cloak had a logo of an eagle on them. Harry thought the house elves might’ve added them while they were eating last night. 

Behind the curtains on his bed Harry slipped on his shirt and sweater, the bulge that protruded from his sleeve reminding him to go see ‘Madam Pomfrey’ later. If he could get the cast off early he’d like to. He fumbled with the blue and bronze tie for a couple minutes until he finally managed to imitate Aunt Petunia’s motions when she helped Dudley with his. 

Next to his bed Selene’s litter box was fresh, and there was a small pewter tray with a silvery fish.

”Does that smell good?” He whispered to the cat when Selene’s nose perked up. She walked across the bed and leaped off with the grace that cats possess, landing next to the tray. She began to slowly claw at the pink meat, making Harry feel a little nauseous. (There was quite a blood oozing out, was the damn fish _raw?_ The blood looking very much like the blood that had seeped out of his arm a week ago didn’t help _._ ) Harry still had a bit of the cat feed he’d bought at Diagon Alley but Selene seemed to like the fish more than that, so he let her be.

Harry retrieved his Potions textbook from his trunk. It was the longest and most complicated one, every ingredient you added to a potion needed to be exact. If you messed up and didn’t know what to put to counteract it’s effects, the potion could be ruined. Harry wanted to learn as much as he could before the classes, he was already probably behind thanks to being raised by Muggles. Sure, Muggleborns did okay, but he wanted to do as well as possible.

Harry was able to read quietly while the rest of his housemates got up and readied their bags for the day. Harry had thought about what books he would need, but they were all ridiculously heavy and didn’t all fit in his bag quite right. After some thinking he left his Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration textbooks in his bag. Charms because Morag said they were likely to have it sometime today, his Potions book because the book held crucial instructions and information on the subject, and Transfiguration because the Herbology and History books were too thick to fit in his bag.

”What time does breakfast start?” Anthony asked to no one in particular.

”Wasn’t it seven?” Michael’s muffled voice said from under his pillow.

”I think so.” Harry said distractedly, Selene was licking her paws of the blood and his queasy feeling was coming back. 

”We might as well go down at seven anyways, if breakfast isn’t ready we can just try and find the castle or something.” Kevin reasoned.

”I don’t know if any of you noticed, but it’s actually past seven already.” Terry stepped out of the bathroom to point at the clock, which clearly depicted seven-oh-nine.

”Oh crap-” Michael tumbled out of his bed, and Kevin yelped before running over to his trunk in his underwear. popping up and stumbling to the bathroom. 

”I’m gonna go down to the Hall already, anyone wanna come with?” Anthony asked.

”I’ll go, just let me grab my bag real quick.” Harry got off his bed with one last scritch to Selene’s ears and stuffed his book in his bag.

”I’ll come, I wanna eat something.” Terry slung his bag over his shoulder.

”Alright, see the rest of you later.” Kevin, Stephen, and Michael called out their goodbyes. Harry, Terry, and Anthony went down the stairs.

It was only when they had left the common room the boys realized that they had no idea where to find the Gray Hall. The boys found themselves hopelessly lost and Harry wondered why the teachers didn’t think to give them maps, especially since the school was so large. After nearly fifteen minutes of wandering aimlessly Terry suggested asking the portraits for directions.

”They should walk down the left side, take the stairs, and then keep going right until they see the Hall-” A man wearing frilly clothing and a tall collar argued.

The knight in silver to his right interrupted him. ”You idiot, obviously the Arithmancy corridor has the clearest path there-”

Harry groaned softly, the men had been arguing ever since they first started talking to them.

”Little Ravenclaws, are these men bothering you?” A female in one of the portraits called out to them.

Terry’s eyes widened. ”Hey, you’re the Lady in Blue!” Terry exclaimed.

”I am known as the Lady in Blue, but you may call me Lillianna.” The painting curstied. ”My title is purely descriptive. Do you need help?” The men continued bickering in the background.

”Yeah, we’re trying to find our way to the Great Hall.” Anthony said.

”Oh, well that’s easy. There are different ways there but the simplest would be to head down the hall that way,” She pointed to the right of them. ”Then the long stairs on the right, and turn left.” 

Harry sighed gratefully. ”Thank you, Lilliana.” Harry bowed his head.

Terry copied the motion. ”Thank you, Lady Blue.”

”How could I not help my own? I was once a Ravenclaw too.” Lilliana tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder proudly. ”Farewell, little Ravenclaws. Do come visit sometime? I could use the company.” Lilliana said a bit sadly.

”Of course.” Harry promised her. Life as a portrait must be lonely after a while, even as a magic one.

”Wonderful! If you ever need directions again look for my sisters. They all look like me, but Guinevere wears green, Catherine wears yellow, and Arabella wears red.” Lilliana said. The boys gave their thanks and left down the corridor.

Lilliana’s directions finally took them to the Great Hall, and the Ravenclaws were eager to finally eat. Anthony dragged them both quickly to the table and eagerly began to tuck into a fluffy waffle.

Harry simply took a piece of golden toast, he didn’t think he was ready to eat the other heavier foods. The Dursleys mainly gave him their leftovers of burnt bread or anything not quite cooked all the way through. He had thrown up before eating too much at school after a summer of subpar meals.

”Good morning, boys, it’s good to see you all right on time.” A short, brown-haired man toddled up to them with a thick stack of papers. ”I am Professor Flitwick, you Charms teacher and Head of Ravenclaw House. I have your schedules here, please don’t lose them. You are welcome to come to my office or stay after class should you have any concerns on it, or anything else.” The papers flew off the stack and in front of their perspective owners.

”Thank you, Professor Flitwick.” Anthony took his sheet.

”You are most welcome.” He bowed slightly and left to the other Ravenclaw students.

”He’s our Charms teacher?” Harry asked.

”Yeah, he’s a good guy. My mum says he’s a good professor.” Anthony’s eyes roamed over his schedule. Harry looked down to his, eager to see what classes he had that day.

_Class Bi-Weekly Rotation Schedule_

_*It is advised that on nights with Astronomy, sleep should be done after dinner though before the class, and after the class. A Prefect will come to wake you up half an hour before for the first five classes._

_Monday: Tuesday:_

_-7 a.m. Breakfast - 8:30 a.m. -7 a.m. Breakfast - 8:30 a.m._

_-8:30 a.m. Free - 8: 55 a.m. -8:30 a.m. Free - 8: 55 a.m._

_-9 a.m. Charms (Professor Flitwick) - 12 p.m. -9 a.m. Transfiguration (Professor McGonagall) - 12 p.m._

_-12 p.m. Lunch - 1 p.m. -12 p.m. Lunch - 1 p.m._

_-1 p.m. Herbology (Professor Sprout) - 4 p.m. -1 p.m. History of Magic (Professor Binns) - 4 p.m._

_-5 p.m. Free - 6 p.m. -5 p.m. Free - 6 p.m._

_-6 p.m. Dinner - 8 p.m. -6 p.m. Dinner - 8 p.m.  
_

_Wednesday Thursday_

_-7 a.m. Breakfast - 8:30 a.m. -7 a.m. Breakfast - 8:30 a.m._

_-8:30 a.m. Free - 8: 55 a.m._ _-8:30 a.m. Free - 8: 55 a.m._

_-9 a.m. Defense Against The Dark Arts (Professor Quirrell) - 12 p.m. -9 a.m. Potions (Professor Snape) - 12 p.m._

_-12 p.m. Lunch - 1 p.m. -12 p.m. Lunch - 1 p.m._

_-1 p.m. Transfiguration (Professor McGonagall) - 4 p.m. -1 p.m. Herbology (Professor Sprout) - 4 p.m._

_-5 p.m. Free - 6 p.m. -5 p.m. Free - 6 p.m._

_-6 p.m. Dinner - 8 p.m. -6 p.m. Dinner - 8 p.m._

_Friday_

_-7 a.m. Breakfast - 8:30 a.m._

_-8:30 a.m. Free - 8: 55 a.m._

_-9 a.m. Charms (Professor Flitwick) - 12 p.m._

_-12 p.m. Lunch - 1 p.m._

_-1 p.m._ _Free - 4 p.m._

_5 p.m. - 6 p.m._

_-6 p.m. Dinner - 8 p.m._

_-12 p.m. Astronomy (Professor Sinistra) - 2 p.m._

_Next Week_

_Monday: Tuesday:_

_-7 a.m. Breakfast - 8:30 a.m. -7 a.m. Breakfast - 8:30 a.m._

_-8:30 a.m. Free - 8: 55 a.m. -8:30 a.m. Free - 8: 55 a.m._

_-9 a.m. Herbology (Professor Sprout) - 12 p.m. -9 a.m. Potions (Professor Snape_ _) - 12 p.m._

_-12 p.m. Lunch - 1 p.m. -12 p.m. Lunch - 1 p.m._

_-1 p.m. Defense Against the Dark Arts (Professor Quirrell) - 4 p.m. -1 p.m. History of Magic (Professor Binns) - 4 p.m._

_-5 p.m. Free - 6 p.m. -5 p.m. Free - 6 p.m._

_-6 p.m. Dinner - 8 p.m. -6 p.m. Dinner - 8 p.m.  
_

_-12 p.m. Astronomy (Professor Sinistra) - 3 a.m._

_Wednesday Thursday_

_-7 a.m. Breakfast - 8:30 a.m. -7 a.m. Breakfast - 8:30 a.m._

_-8:30 a.m. Free - 8: 55 p.m._ _-8:30 a.m. Free - 8: 55 a.m._

 _-9 a.m. Charms (Professor Flitwick) - 12 p.m. -9 a.m. Free_ _\- 12 p.m._

_-12 p.m. Lunch - 1 p.m. -12 p.m. Lunch - 1 p.m._

_-1 p.m. Transfiguration (Professor McGonagall) - 4 p.m._ _-1 p.m. History of Magic (Professor Binns) - 4 p.m._

_-5 p.m. Free - 6 p.m. -5 p.m. Free - 6 p.m._

_-6 p.m. Dinner - 8 p.m. -6 p.m. Dinner - 8 p.m._

_-12 p.m. Astronomy (Professor Sinistra) -3 a.m._

_Friday_

_-7 a.m. Breakfast - 8:30 a.m._

_-8:30 a.m. Free - 8: 55 a.m._

_-9 a.m. Defense Against the Dark Arts (Professor Quirrell) - 12 p.m._

_-12 p.m. Lunch - 1 p.m._

_-1 p.m. Potions (Professor Snape) - 4 p.m._

_-5 p.m. Free - 6 p.m._

_-6 p.m. Dinner - 8 p.m._

  
  
Overall Schedule

 _Monday_ _\- Friday_

_6:30 a.m.- 8:30 a.m.: Breakfast_

_9 a.m - 12 p.m.: Classes_

_12 p.m - 1 p.m.: Lunch_

_1 p.m. - 4 p.m.: Classes_

_6 p.m. - 8 p.m.: Dinner_

_9 p.m. - 6 a.m.: Curfew_

_Saturday-Sunday Same as above, only no classes._

_Library is open Monday-Friday 7 a.m. - 8:30 p.m._

_Saturday-Sunday 9 a.m. - 8 p.m._

_Professor’s offices have their own hours, please set up an appointment should you wish to speak with one outside of class._

”So we all have the same schedules?” Harry looked up to his friends.

”We all do. All students in the same year and same House have all their classes together with until third year, when you can choose electives. Your regular classes stay the same, but your electives have students from not just two Houses. For now, we just have classes with only our yearmates, House-mates, and the other House in a certain class.” Terry (tried to) explained.

”Oh, uh, okay.” Harry tried to understand the complicated system.

Kevin, Stephen, and Michael slid onto the benches, schedules in hand. Flitwick must’ve given theirs to them when they came in. ”Hey guys.” Michael said. The other first years greeted them, and the boys began to eat breakfast. 

Not half an hour later Harry was about ready to go back to the dorms and replace his Transfiguration and Potions books for his Herbology one when a haughty voice shouted his name. 

”Potter!” Harry turned to a blond boy walking over to him, two large boys flanking him.

”Hi?” Harry waved uncertainly.

”Yes, hello. I’m Draco Malfoy, of the Noble House of Malfoy.” Malfoy said smugly.

”Good for you?” 

”I- yes, well,” The boy stuttered, looking caught off guard. ”I-”

”I’m Gregory Goyle!” The stocky boy on Malfoy’s right said excitedly.

”I’m Vincent Crabbe, of the Noble House of Crabbe.” Sighed the taller one on Malfoy’s left with a pained expression.

”Is it true that you were raised by dragons?” Goyle asked eagerly.

”Er, no.” Harry said.

”Bugger.”

” _Anyways,_ ” Malfoy shot the two dirty looks. ”Just thought you should meet some respectable people. Don’t want to fall in with the wrong sort, mudbloods and blood traitors everywhere in this school.” Malfoy said disdainfully.

”Excuse me?” Terry raised an eyebrow at him.

”Oh, not you. I just meant the blood traitors and Mudbloods.” Malfoy reassured him, which didn’t seem to placate Terry much.

”Sorry, what’s a Mudblood?” Harry asked.

”A _Mudblood_ is a Muggleborn. Filthy blood dirtying our world.” Malfoy sneered.

”Oh. I don’t think they’re that bad. I’m about as good as a Muggleborn anyways, I was raised by my Muggle relatives.” Harry pointed out.

”Well, you’re the son of a good pureblood family, you weren’t meant to be raised by _Muggles._ You should think about it. Boot, Corner, Goldstein.” He acknowledged Terry, Michael, and Anthony who nodded back. He turned around and sauntered over to the Slytherin table.

”So _that’s_ Malfoy.” Harry said thoughtfully. ”He’s a prat isn’t he?”

”Yes, he really is.” Michael groaned.

”How come he didn’t talk to any of you?” Harry waved to Stephen and Kevin.

”We’re not purebloods. Anthony isn’t either, but his family is rich enough that he has some sort of social standing.” Kevin explained.

”Malfoy doesn’t care about most halfbloods, and he hates Muggleborns.” Stephen added.

”Why?”

”His family cares about blood purity and all that crap.” Michael sighed.

”Me, Michael, and Terry are all purebloods, but our family doesn’t care too much about marrying halfbloods or Muggleborns. We just usually won’t marry with Muggles because of the Statute.” Anthony licked butter off his fingers.

”Whats the Statute?” Harry was beginning to get tired of not knowing so many common things.

”The Statute of Secrecy makes sure Muggles don’t find out about magic. They started it during the Salem Witch Trials.” Kevin shuddered. ”The Statute makes it illegal to tell Muggles who aren’t immediate family or a spouse of a wizard or witch about magic. Any violation is an automatic year long stay in low-level Azkaban.” 

”Thats the prison, right?” Harry cocked his head.

”Yes. Azkaban is a terrible place. The entire prison is dreary and debilitating to the mind.” Terry nodded solemnly.

”Even the low and middle level prisoners feel the effects of the Dementors. Only the high level prisoners, murderers, rapists, and Death Eaters are subjected to the Dementors, but the rest of Azkaban feels it too.” Stephen said. Harry held back a shudder when he thought about the followers of the man who killed countless Muggles and wizards, not to mention his parents and nearly himself.

”Thanks for putting up with my questions.” Harry blushed. 

”It’s no problem, asking questions means you’re willing to learn. That’s better than some of the Muggleborns.” Michael said.

”What do you mean?”

”Some of the Muggleborns come into the wizarding world thinking that everything they know should be incorporated into magic. Some of them outright disrespect our traditional customs, like the Yule, Imbolc, Beltane, and Samhain rituals.” Michael explained.

”It’s fine if they don’t want to take part in it, but some of them are so ingrained in their normal ways of life that they don’t even think that our ‘pagan satanic’ traditions are simply our everyday life.” Terry groused.

Harry bit his lip. ”Sounds like racism, sorta.”

”Whats ‘racism’?” Stephen tilted his head.

”You guys don’t have racism?” Harry asked, shocked.

”Not that I know of.” Stephen shrugged.

”Wow, that’s great, holy crap- er, racism is when someone treats certain people differently or stereotypes someone on account of their skin color.” Harry thought about how to explain racism to people who’d never experienced it. ”There are people who have pale skin, like me, Terry, and Kevin, who would bully or discriminate Stephen because he has darker skin.” 

”Why do they think that?” Anthony asked, dumbfounded.

”Because they’re idiots.” Harry rolled his eyes. ”But it’s mostly thank to the ideas of pe- uh, Muggles, a long time ago. It kinda stick with some people.”

Terry looked sick. ”That’s sounds terrible.” 

”It is.” Harry nodded. He was white, so he’d never been subjected to racism, but he’d seen Dudley pick on Carmen, the Argentinian girl in their second grade, and Damian, the black boy in fourth grade. Harry always felt bad for them, it wasn’t like the could change their skin color to get away from his bullying, and they didn’t deserve to be miserable just because they weren’t white. Another thing he hated about the Dursleys.

”I suppose blood purity is sort of the magic version of racism.” Anthony said.

”Imagine if Malfoy and the other purebloods heard that they have something the Muggles do.” Michael snickered.

A laugh burst out of Kevin. ”They’d go berserk!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooo i really don’t remember if i’ve covered this in past chapters but my school pushed back reopening till august 17 (they really had to start on my birthday smh) so updates will become even more infrequent. i’ll try to make sure it’s at least like twice a month. i have two pre-ap classes and two advanced classes added on this year plus my extracurriculars so i’m gonna be kinda busy with that.
> 
> ALSO HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY HARRY AND NEVILLE, AND MY BEST BLUE PALADIN LANCE HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LATE JULY BOYS


	9. nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> harry meets some of blaise’s friends, has his first class, and returns to the lady in blue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ‘tis a shit update but it’s been over a month so take it i feel bad 
> 
> so high school is a bitch compared to middle school and i regret signing up for pre ap classes kill me now please BIOLOGY FUCKING SUCKS SHE ASSIGNS LIKE THREE THINGS A DAY AND THEYRE ALL DUE AT 9 WHAT IS THIS FUCKERY AND BOTH MY FRENCH AND HISTORY TEACHERS CAN’T EXPLAIN FOR SHIT 
> 
> i can’t believe geometry is my highest grade. high school is fucking wild.
> 
> also because typing ‘witches and wizards’ every time i want to describe them is getting tiring i’m making the more traditional people say wixen. ‘witches and wizards’ also has no non-binary opposite, so we’re hopping on the ‘wixen’ train no matter how cliche and ‘harry goes through his inheritance’ it sounds.
> 
> SONGS  
> Tricky - Run-D.M.C. (bop at one in the morning in the dark)  
> New - Daya  
> Heather - Conan Grey (finally listened to it and?? as much as straight tiktok loves it?? it wasn’t?? that bad?? pretty good tbh)

Harry hurried down the stairs towards the Great Hall, feet slapping against the stone. One look at the huge clock ahead of him told him that he was dangerously close to being late.

 _Left, right, right again, find the picture of the stallion..._ Harry tried to remember how he got to breakfast that morning. _Left, then the hall with the Lady in Blue._ Harry turned and ran past the still bickering knight and courtesan.

”Little Ravenclaw?” Lilliana called after him.

”Sorry can’t talk I’m late-” Harry yelled behind him.

”Oh, good luck then!” Lilliana waved cheerfully. 

_Out the hall, the long stairs, right-_ Harry swerved to the stairs and used the rail to balance, flying down stairs again. He turned right and-

”There you are Harry, we almost had to leave without you.” Morag scolded.

”Sorry- had to- get my book.” Harry panted.

”Well lets go, class starts in less than ten minutes and we still don’t know where the damn Charms classroom is.” Morag muttered.

”Oh crap, we forgot to ask for a map.” Harry bemoaned.

”Hello, Harry.” Harry turned to see Blaise standing in Slytherin green and silver, followed by a couple others.

”Hey Blaise. How was your first night?” Harry smiled brightly.

”It was fine. We know where Charms is, you’re welcome to walk with us.” Blaise offered, getting to the point quickly. The blonde girl behind him looked vaguely off put by the statement but said nothing.

”Yes please, you’re doing us a huge favor.” Michael sighed in relief. The Ravenclaws merged with the Slytherins, friends from before Hogwarts finding each other. Anthony instantly headed for a tall boy, and the blonde girl cooly moved to 

”Well Harry, you’ve certainly given us all a shock.” Blaise said wryly.

Harry blushed and stuttered out, ”I-I just wanted to be left alone, have some friends who didn’t care that I was apparently famous.”

”Idiot. I like you the same as before.” He nudged Harry gently.

”Oh. Okay.” Morag and Lisa hadn’t acted any different around him, but some part of him had still been scared. Harry knew for a fact that at least half of Dudley’s friends only liked the pudgy boy because he was actually rather well off. Harry’d never had any friends before and he didn’t want his first ones to only want him for his apparent fame.

”Anyways, I know you asked about some books on Light, Grey, and Dark magic. Hogwarts’ library is pretty biased on the fact that Light magic is the only upstanding form. Most of the book condone Grey magic as being ‘too close to Dark’ and Dark being ‘evil, demonic,’.” Blaise rolled his eyes. ”Just because the Light wizards forgot tradition doesn’t mean that Dark and Grey wizards are suddenly bad.”

”Whats the difference between the magics?” Harry inquired, the group turning the corner.

”Light magic is seen as ‘safe’ because it requires no emotion other than intent, and the spells are relatively non-violent. But Hogwarts still teaches the Bat-Bogey Hex, which is a Dark spell.” Blaise started. ”Dark magic feeds off of emotion, and consequently can be volatile. Control of one’s self is everything.”

”So, Light wizards don’t like Dark magic because it has the _possibility_ to be dangerous?” Harry ventured.

”Kind of. They don’t like that someone’s emotions can change a charm into a curse.” Blaise said. ”But Dark magic isn’t necessarily evil. There’s also the fact that a lot of Dark magic requires physical ingredients that aren’t... the most pleasant.”

”Oh.”

”Yes. But Dark magic isn’t inherently evil. The fact that Light wixen automatically see them as such only pushes them towards it.” Blaise scowled.

”How do you know what type of magic you have?” Harry asked.

”Any wixen who follow tradition usually do a ritual test before they start Hogwarts during Samhain. They do make exceptions for certain cases though, so you could try if you want?”

”I think I want to.” Harry said hesitantly. They started to climb the moving staircases, careful not to jump too early or too late. Seriously, who designed this school?

Blaise’s smile was blinding. ”Good for you Harry. I’ll write to my mother, and we can go from there. It’s not a sure thing, but there’s a good chance they’ll let you, especially when they hear that you haven’t been told about magic.” Blaise’s expression turned slightly self-chastising. ”A lot of the traditional community assumed you never showed to any ritual because you looked down upon them, I myself included. I apologize, and hope that you’ll forgive me.”

”Uh, nothing to be sorry about.” Harry said awkwardly. ”I can see why you might’ve thought that.”

”Like I said, a _lot_ of traditional wixen see it the same way. But there’s likely to be a good number of them willing to teach _the great Harry Potter_ all about Samhain.” Blaise laughed.

”I don’t think I want to be known as great.” Harry stared doubtfully at his feet.

”Nothing wrong with a little respect Harry.”

With the help of the Slytherins, the Ravenclaws made it to Charms a couple minutes early, and spilled into the classroom to claim seats. Harry trekked up the stairs to one of the uppermost seats, high above the demonstration platform but still close enough to see. Harry figured that he’d be able to still see well, but be able to do whatever he wanted from that far away.

A loud ‘pop’ startled many of the students, a short elfish wizard trotting up to the desk. 

”Everyone please find a seat, I’ll start in a minute.” Professor Flitwick shuffled his papers on his desk. The class quieted down and books were pulled out. Harry readied his quill. (what the fuck were they, anyways? How did people not spill ink in their bags? Or scratch holes in their parchment?)

”Good morning everyone, thank you for all coming to your first class on time.” Professor Flitwick adjusted his glasses. ”Welcome to first year Charms! I am Professor Flitwick, and as most of already know, I will be your Charms teacher for as long as I stay at Hogwarts. I am also Head of Ravenclaw House.”

”Charms is a difficult subject. Not every Charm works for every wixen, and every Charm has something different. Some require simple wand movements, some an incantation, and some even depend entirely upon emotions. Nevertheless, Charms a worthy and practical pursuit. Charms taught at Hogwarts are needed for most everyday life, and some can save your life.”

”Now, let’s start with out first spell shall we? Flip to page three, past the introduction.” Harry turned the pages, paper dry and soft in his hands.

The small Professor raised his wand. ”Now, like the book says, move your wand like this: swish, and flick! Repeat after me; swish, and flick!” 

”Swish, and flick!” The class repeated.

”The incantation is _Wingardium Leviosa_.” 

”Good, now give it a try.

Harry frowned in concentration before waving his wand and murmuring the incantation.

”Wingardium Leviosa.” The feather stayed down. Maybe he needed to say it louder?

”Wingardium Leviosa!” Harry said firmly. The feather shook a bit and weakly floated off the table. Emboldened by his success, he released his feather and tried again.

”Wingardium Leviosa!” The feather floated up much more steadily than last time, and it floated past Harry’s head and towards the ceiling. Harry lowered his wand and the feather lowered with it.

”Well done, Mr. Potter! Ten points to Ravenclaw!” Professor Flitwick cried out. Next to Harry, a brown-haired boy’s feather bobbed up and dropped back down. ”You as well, Mr. Nott! Five points to Slytherin!”

The boy scowled at his feather as if it’d fell just so Flitwick would give him less points.

”How’d you do it?” He asked grudgingly, eyes flicking to Harry.

”I just... said the words, I guess. It didn’t work when I said them quietly so I said them louder after.” Harry shrugged.

Nott scowled harder. ”Harry bloody Potter.” He grumbled.

”Maybe... you have to imagine it? I tried to see the feather floating up.” Harry offered. The boy glared at the inky feather before closing his eyes, opening them again and chanting the incantation. The feather elegantly rose up a few feet.

”Five more points to Slytherin, excellent correction Mr. Nott.” Flitwick nodded approvingly. The Nott lowered the feather, turning to Harry with an odd expression.

”Thank you, Potter.” The boy said reluctantly.

”No problem.” Harry beamed.

”How did you two do it?” Michael asked miserably during the walk down to lunch.

”I just tried to see it.” Harry winced at his poor explanation.

”I’ve gone over theory with my father before.” Nott said shortly. A little tension leaked out of his shoulders. ”And... Potter helped. A bit.”

”Good on you, Harry!” Morag knocked Harry’s shoulder good-naturedly.

”How is Lord Nott, anyways?” Greengrass picked at her nails.

”He’s fine.” Harry and Morag looked at each other when the tension between the group thickened.

”Um, do we share classes with you guys after lunch?” Morag perked up.

Greengrass yawned. ”We have Potions in the afternoon.”

”Oh, we have Herbology next.” Harry smiled apologetically. Harry was excited for the class, everything in the assigned book made him eager to see how wixen plants differed from Muggle ones.

”Sprout.” Blaise mused. ”She’s supposed to be competent.”

”It’s _Herbology._ ” Greengrass flipped a blonde lock over her shoulder. ”Not much competency.”

”Herbology ties closely with Potions.” Blaise chided.

”Of course.” She sniffed.

Harry was exhausted from the full day. Herbology had been nice, the teacher was the Head of Hufflepuff House and seemed to ignore House stereotypes, something Harry liked. A lot of the students had already started to avoid the Slytherin students. A few had asked him why he was in Ravenclaw, had the hat messed up? Did he want a new Sorting? He told them no, he was perfectly happy where he was, thanks.

Harry walked out of the Ravenclaw common room, watching the portraits on the walls go about their day. A courtesan leered over a lady only to be thrown back with a spell. A bright orange-red bird blazed through the frames. He found himself wandering back the Lady in Blue.

”Hello, Lilliana.” Harry said cheerfully. The blonde maiden whipped around, her dress swirling in dark shades of blue.

”Good afternoon little Ravenclaw! Did you find the Great Hall alright?” Lilliana smiled down to him.

”We did, thanks for helping us.” Harry said.

”Anything for my Ravenclaws.” Lilliana beamed. ”Now, how was your first day? I always loved first days, looking for how the castle changed, finding my classes, seeing how the boys had grown over the summer.” 

”What?”

”Hm?”

”What do the boys have to do with anything?” Harry asked.

Lilliana grinned mischievously. ”The boys always looked so wonderful after summers, spent all their time out in the sun and fresh faced-”

”Uh, sorry, forget I asked.” Harry said hurriedly. Lilliana let out a peal of laughter.

”Do visit the Gryffindor corridors sometime, Arabella would absolutely love you.” Lilliana sat down in her portrait.

Harry tried to remember when Lilliana had mentioned her sisters that morning. ”That’s your Gryffindor sister right?” 

”Correct! Five points to Ravenclaw!” Lilliana laughed again. ”Forgive me, I was once a professor.”

”Really? What subject did you teach?” Harry asked, interested.

”History.” Lilliana sighed fondly. ”I loved the NEWT students, always so eager to learn. Well, until exams. Then they would completely overwork themselves.”

”Were your sisters professors too?”

”Yes, we all were. Guinevere loved Care of Magical Creatures, and was the Head of Slytherin House. Catherine was adept at Defense and Head of Hufflepuff. Arabella alternated between Potions Mistress and Transfiguration, she could never decide which she loved more. She was Head of Gryffindor.”

”Care of Magical Creatures?” Harry felt his hatred for not knowing things coming back.

”It’s an elective you can take in third year. Guinevere liked animals better than people. For all her charisma, social connections, and alliances with others, she really hated people. Found them ignorant.” Lilliana began to brush her hair out with her fingers.

”What was Hogwarts like back in... sorry, when were you alive?” Harry asked sheepishly.

”1465 was my first year of teaching here. I was twenty five.” Lilliana sighed wistfully. ”The grounds were beautiful, Nathanael Selwyn, the then Headmaster, had these huge weeping willow trees planted and strung them with enchanted lights during Yule. It looked like something out of a fairy tale.”

”That sounds nice.” Harry thought about how the grounds looked now. Nothing special, a few trees here and there, lots of grass. The weeping willows sounded amazing.

”It was.” Lilliana stared nostalgically away, as though she were seeing the willows. ”During the winter the snow looked ethereal.” 

”Hogwarts is still really nice now.” Harry said.

”It always is.” Lilliana gazed at the window. Harry wondered what she saw. His mind wandered, and a thought struck him 

”How do the pictures work? The whole moving around thing, I mean.” Harry asked curiously.

”Some witches and wizards can imbue paintings with magic, and put a little bit of the wizard in the portrait.” Lilliana said. ”Wixen artists have to have a big imagination to put the essence of a person in a portrait.”

”Wow, that sounds really cool.” Harry beamed.

”You should try it sometime, it’s good to relax your magic.” Lilliana encouraged. At the mention of ‘his magic’ Harry remembered his earlier conversation with Blaise.

”Lilliana?” Harry asked.

”Yes, my dear?”

”What do you think about Dark magic?” His voice dropped down to a quieter tone.

Lilliana pursed her lips. ”I don’t like the attitude most of the wizarding world has about it. People used to be much more accepting of it and other magics. When I visit Arabella she hates the way her Gryffindors talk about it now. Guinevere doesn’t like that a lot of the Slytherins see it as the only way. She hurts every time one of them succumbs to the pull. Catherine absolutely detests the way her students cower under the fear of Dark magic. Catherine was a Grey witch, despite what the stereotypes would have her as. She used Dark magic just as much as Light, she knew the risks and avoided temptation. We all did.”

”The pull?” Harry inquired.

”Dark magic has... an allure. Use too much, and it pulls you in and you’re addicted. It feeds off emotion and attaches itself to you. Light magic only uses intent, so it is naturally detached from a wizard, minus a few spells, like the Patronus Charm. It’s a protective spell that reflects your soul.” Lilliana elaborated when she saw Harry’s confusion.

”Do you think I should get my magic tested then?” Harry asked. He was worried about what people would think if he had Dark magic.

”You have not done it already? Are you a Muggleborn?” Lilliana asked, head tilted.

”No, just Muggle-raised.” Lilliana clicked her tongue.

”Muggles are lovely and all, but they have no idea how to raise a wixen child. Of course you should get tested, it clears up a lot. It helps you know what to do with certain spells and what to use to your advantage. If you’re a Dark wixen but don’t know it and use Light spells, you’ll never reach your full potential.” Lilliana nodded.

”I think I want to do it this Samhain.” Harry admitted.

”Wonderful! Be sure to tell me how it goes.” Lilliana smiled.

Harry left the corridor feeling bolstered and informed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i got into haikyuu and i love hinata so much that little tangerine who remind me of a nicer yuri plisetsky.
> 
> I ALSO GOT INTO YUURI ON ICE AND I’M DYING NONE OF THEM HAVE THEIR SHIT TOGETHER HELPPPP
> 
> lilliana was a whim the last chapter but she wormed her way in with her sisters and now she’s how i give harry knowledge of stuff hogwarts won’t teach him (along with blaise and his new friends.)


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